Catholics with specialty orange growing areas

(Baonghean)Parishioner Nguyen Huu Binh, parishioner of Do Luong town, is 55 years old this year. In 1976, he was a worker on an orange plantation in Quy Hop district and retired in 2007. His wife, Le Thi Binh, 53 years old, was a soldier who transferred to the same farm and retired in 2008.

With over 30 years of experience growing oranges on the farm, the couple has a lot of experience and technical knowledge, but they moved to the town, had no garden, no land to use, he struggled and came up with the idea of ​​buying some hilly areas to renovate the land to grow oranges. He discussed with his wife and children and received support from everyone. With his son returning to Yen Thanh to start a business, he borrowed 200 million VND from the bank and friends to invest in growing oranges.



Parishioner Nguyen Huu Binh pruning and taking care of his orange garden.

In early 2006, he bought a 3-hectare hill for 30 million VND. After the homeowner finished harvesting the eucalyptus, the father and son rented a bulldozer, an excavator to level the ground, and hired 10 trucks to transport fertilizer from Nghia Dan Sugar Factory to spread on the hill. He went to Quy Hop Orange Farm and selected 2,000 orange trees with the brand name Cam Vinh to plant. After finishing the land, he rented a bulldozer to block the stream and dug 2 ponds of over 1,000 m2 to store water for irrigation of the oranges. Then he hired 10 workers to dig holes to plant and protect the trees, each hole filled with 1 ox cart of manure and nitrogen, potassium, and phosphate fertilizers. He also built a furnace to burn packaging containing chemicals and dug a pond to treat waste so it would not flow into the stream.

Thanks to that, after 4 years (from 2006 to 2010), the first orange crop yielded 21 tons, sold for 300 million VND, after deducting 200 million VND in expenses, his family paid off the bank debt and bought an additional plow, weeder, generator, pump and rearranged the water pipe system to prevent drought for the oranges. In early November 2010, the North Central Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology held a field meeting at his farm and recognized the intensive orange farming model according to GAP standards. With encouragement and guidance from the staff of the North Central Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, in early 2011, he contracted another 14 hectares of oranges from a neighboring family to intensively cultivate and expand the specialty orange area. Last Tet Nham Thin 2012, he harvested 120 tons of oranges, sold for 1 billion 200 million VND. The rumor spread far and wide so customers from all over came to buy at the garden, he didn't have to go to other places to import anymore.

From 2009 to 2011, he was elected as a representative of good farmers and businessmen and was awarded a certificate of merit by the People's Committee of Dong Thanh commune.

Truong Son