A village in Nghe An 'lost' nearly half a billion dong because pineapples unexpectedly bore fruit early.

Many pineapple fields of Quynh Luu people suddenly bear fruit too early. Photo: Viet Hung.

Mr. Hoang Thanh Sy's family in Dong Xuan village, Quynh Thang commune (Quynh Luu) has 5 sao of pineapples that suddenly flowered and bore fruit, which, according to him, should have started to bear fruit by August. The pineapples bearing fruit early has caused the plants to be stunted and the fruit does not develop as expected.

Mr. Sy said: “The family's 5 sao of pineapple was planted from August to September 2019, after about 18 months the harvest began. However, around March 2020, when the pineapple tree was just over 6 months old, it suddenly bloomed and bore fruit first, which is 6-8 months early. This pineapple area now has to be uprooted and replanted, causing a loss of more than 20 million VND, not including the care costs.”

Although the newly planted pineapple trees have already produced fruit, this area must be uprooted and replanted for a new crop. Photo: Viet Hung.

Not only Mr. Hoang Thanh Sy's household, but also 13 pineapple growing households in Dong Xuan village, Quynh Thang commune are also "restless" because the pineapples bear fruit ahead of schedule. According to the people, after harvesting the spring pineapple crop, around August - September 2019, people focused on improving the land to plant autumn pineapples, expected to start harvesting in February - March 2021.

However, for unknown reasons, the pineapple hills of 13 households suddenly flowered and bore fruit when the trees were only planted for 6-8 months. For these areas, if they continue to be cared for, the fruit will not develop to reach the productivity, so households are proceeding to remove them and replant. According to the people, the investment cost for 1 sao of pineapple from planting to the early fruiting stage is about 4 million VND/sao.

People in Quynh Thang commune are sad because pineapples bear fruit early. Photo: Viet Hung

Mr. Pham Xuan Thuy - Head of Dong Xuan village, Quynh Thang commune said: "The village has 40 hectares of pineapple growing area. After receiving feedback from the people, the village executive committee went to the affected pineapple hills to make statistics. There are about 4.5 hectares of newly planted pineapples that have already produced fruit, causing damage of more than 450 million VND. The village has submitted a report to the Commune People's Committee for consideration and resolution to help people have conditions to reproduce."

Not only in Quynh Thang, many households in Tan Thang commune (Quynh Luu) were also surprised to discover that their pineapple hills had been bearing fruit early for many months. Through the actual field work, we recorded that there were many newly planted pineapple areas, the trees had not yet fully developed but were bearing fruit.

Mr. Cu Van Lai's family planted 3 sao, about 40% of which bore fruit early. Next to that, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuyen's family in Tan Thang commune planted 4 sao of pineapple since August 2019, but so far the plants have also flowered and produced fruit. According to the people, the reason why many pineapple areas bear fruit early may be due to the hot weather, in addition to the unscientific fertilization methods that affect the pineapple plants to flower and bear fruit.

People pull out pineapples that have fruited early to replant. Photo: Viet Hung

Mr. Dau Duc Nam - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu district said that while investigating the cause of many pineapple areas bearing fruit early, the department requested localities to closely monitor and make statistics of affected pineapple growing areas, and at the same time, propagate to people to find solutions to prevent heat for pineapple plants.

For newly planted areas that have not yet produced fruit, it is recommended that people do not fertilize with foliar fertilizers, root stimulants, leaf enlargement, leaf lengthening fertilizers, etc., but should take care of them in the traditional way. Only when there are instructions from the locality can people fertilize according to regulations./.