The person who successfully built the Thien Son orange brand on the rice land

Orange "paradise"

Mr. Trinh Xuan Giao next to his orange farm in Dong Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Entering the Xa Doai orange garden of Mr. Trinh Xuan Giao in early December, visitors are truly overwhelmed by thousands of orange trees laden with ripe fruit. Nearly 10,000 orange trees, though 15 years old, are lush with branches and leaves, planted in straight rows with paths convenient for harvesting.

The workers who are harvesting oranges, who are local farmers, said that in the past, people in this area only knew how to grow corn, potatoes, cassava... with low income. Mr. Trinh Xuan Giao confided: Although the market has been flooded with oranges since November, my orange garden did not open until early December. "The Xa Doai orange variety with golden heart must be truly ripe for the flesh to be golden yellow and sweet."

Mr. Giao calculated that in 15 years of growing oranges, he had 11 consecutive orange harvests. With the VietGAP clean orange production process, the Thien Son orange brand has made consumers happy every time they enjoy it.

Every orange season, customers flock to buy and transport oranges by car and motorbike from various places. Most of the traders have called to place orders in advance. Dozens of experienced workers are mobilized to meet the daily demand of tons of oranges for customers.

Thanks to good care, the orange trees are all full of eye-catching fruit. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Stopping next to the orange trees laden with fruit, Mr. Giao proudly said that thanks to the application of good techniques in the care process, no orange tree on the farm is infected with pests or diseases. On average, 1 orange tree yields 100 kg, and some trees can yield up to 300 kg of fruit, worth around 10 million VND. For this year's orange crop, the estimated output is about 300 tons. If multiplied by the average price of 30,000 VND/kg, this orange farm earns 9 billion VND. However, due to the characteristics of orange trees that need good care, it requires a large investment cost, accounting for nearly 50% of revenue. In addition to fertilizers, electricity for watering..., workers are also hired to weed, fertilize, harvest, protect...

Thien Son oranges, Yen Thanh are famous for their sweet taste, guaranteed quality and reputation with consumers. Photo: Xuan Hoang

The journey of endurance

When mentioning Yen Thanh, everyone immediately thinks of the rice granary of Nghe An. However, now, this land of “white rice and clear water” is not only famous for rice and education… but is now even more famous for the Vinh orange brand, a specialty that has been discovered in the past 15 years with a special flavor that nature has bestowed on this land.

The owner of Thien Son orange farm confided: In 2001, by chance, he tasted oranges from Minh Thanh commune (Yen Thanh), he was really surprised by the delicious flavor, the melting richness of each orange segment, not inferior to the famous Xa Doai oranges for so long. Since then, he has quietly researched and tested the soil quality in many places in the hillside communes of Yen Thanh.

In 2004, he found a suitable piece of land in Dong Trung hamlet, Dong Thanh commune with an area of ​​18 hectares. The special thing is that this land is surrounded by 3 hills, which the locals call the 3 hills valley. Although he already had the land, Mr. Giao knew that oranges are a "difficult" crop that requires techniques and experience to be highly effective. Therefore, after improving the land, Mr. Giao went to the orange capital Vinh in Quy Hop district to learn how to grow oranges. As luck would have it, Mr. Giao met the "orange king" Nguyen Huu Binh, a person with over 35 years of experience growing oranges in Quy Hop. Enthusiastically invited by Mr. Giao to take charge of the technical aspects of growing and caring for oranges, Mr. Binh decided to transfer the entire orange area in Quy Hop to follow Mr. Giao to develop a commercial orange area on Yen Thanh rice land.

Mentioning this story, Mr. Nguyen Huu Binh shared: With decades of experience and techniques associated with the "difficult" orange tree, when I set foot in this Dong Trung land, I was sure that this would be the future of a famous orange farm in Yen Thanh. That's right, after only 3 years of working together with many colleagues, a good orange farm began to bear fruit, the quality of the oranges was as expected, perfect. Until now, it can be affirmed that Thien Son orange farm is the only one in the rice land of Yen Thanh.

During harvest season, Thien Son orange farm creates jobs for dozens of workers. Photo: Xuan Hoang

From the model of Mr. Giao's orange farm with high income in the area, people in Dong Thanh commune learned the technique of growing oranges, many households invested in growing oranges in their home gardens and also had high income. Mr. Giao and his colleagues enthusiastically guided the people, creating collaborators to grow oranges in the area, bringing the Yen Thanh orange brand.

Taking advantage of land and soil, many hilly communes in Yen Thanh such as Minh Thanh, Dong Thanh, Kim Thanh, Trung Thanh… now have hundreds of households growing oranges, with an area of ​​over 130 hectares. The quality of Yen Thanh oranges is increasingly affirmed, bringing high economic efficiency.

Talking about the strategy of developing the orange market, Mr. Giao said that in recent years, people in the districts have expanded the area of ​​commercial oranges, which confirms that there will be competition between brands of orange products in Nghe An and between farm owners. However, with the viewpoint of "Product quality creates the brand", he believes that Xa Doai Yen Thanh orange products will affirm their position in the market.

With the success of the "Thien Son orange" - Yen Thanh brand, in recent years, Mr. Trinh Xuan Giao has invested in planting 60 hectares of Xa Doai oranges with golden hearts in Mon Son commune (Con Cuong) with the aim of creating the "Thien Son orange" - Con Cuong brand.