Things you didn't know about 'Con Cuong oranges'

(Baonghean)When in season, Con Cuong oranges, with their characteristic sweet and fragrant taste, have become famous among diners both within and outside the district.

Although the oranges are named after the district, the actual surveyed area is not large, concentrated only in Yen Khe commune and a small amount in four neighboring communes located on limestone cliffs. Thanks to natural processes, the soil and land are characteristic of producing delicious, fragrant oranges that are rarely found elsewhere.

The Party Secretary of Yen Khe village, Mr. Pha Tang Ngoc Son (standing in the middle), discusses with Con Cuong district leaders about experiences in growing high-yield, high-quality oranges.

To cultivate this specialty orange variety, Con Cuong district has proactively developed and implemented the "Restoring Con Cuong Orange Trees" project. According to this project, the current orange growing area in the district is 187 hectares, of which 67 hectares are in production, yielding over 800 tons.

With just that amount of production, the Con Cuong orange trees, after being restored under the project, have truly spread due to their distinctive product quality and the high value obtained from growing oranges (each hectare of oranges in the production phase yields revenue from 500 to 800 million VND). Therefore, Con Cuong oranges have become attractive to people in the project's planned area.

Following the gentle slopes of the hills into Huoi Noi ravine, Pha village, Yen Khe commune, the barren, grass-strewn lands of a few years ago have now been largely replaced by newly planted orange groves that are carefully tended and protected. We visited the orange orchard of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, a 2-hectare plot of healthy, green orange trees with beautifully shaped and rotated trunks.

From a barren, desolate piece of land, Mr. Cung partnered with Mr. Thai Ba Trung, leasing land from Mr. Luong Van Sang's family for 15 years to plant Xa Doai oranges. With both contributing labor and capital, in a short time, the first harvest of 650 orange trees bore fruit, and 150 one-year-old trees were thriving. The two men jointly invested over 400 million VND.

Leaving Mr. Cung's orange orchard, we visited the orange orchard of Mr. Pha Tang Ngoc Son, the Party Secretary of the village.

The story of how orange trees yielded high economic returns on the difficult soil of Truong Cong, right from the first harvest, inspired him to enthusiastically pursue his family's decision to plant oranges and encourage other households in the village to do the same.

Harvesting of oranges during the main season in Yen Khe commune (Con Cuong district).

Despite the challenging land conditions, under his diligent hands and economic acumen, his 1.4-hectare plot, with over 500 Van Du orange trees and 200 V2 late-ripening orange trees, is thriving thanks to proper technical procedures. The first harvest of Van Du oranges yielded a revenue of 500 million VND.

Mr. Son said: "Orange trees have proven effective in this area, so we feel very confident investing in planting them. The Party branch also encouraged the people to apply cooperative or independent planting methods depending on their specific conditions."

Thanks to the efforts of the Party branch, Pha village now has 22 households participating in orange cultivation on an area of ​​50 hectares (of which 20 hectares are under a cooperative model). The orange growers here hope that the State will pay attention to investing in an electricity system to ensure irrigation and safe pesticide services for the orange growing area.

Reportedly, Con Cuong district is implementing a project to survey areas suitable for each type of fruit tree and mark out planning zones. This is a very necessary step to both manage the cultivated area and provide direction for the development of this specialty orange variety.

Hong Son