Nghia Dan farmers 'laugh and cry' over red tangerines

Present at the red tangerine garden of more than 300 trees of Mr. Hoang Huu Hoa's family in hamlet 4B, Nghia Mai commune. Looking at the red, ripe tangerine garden with beautiful appearance, but according to the owner, "there are many fruits but when they are unripe they are sour, when they are ripe they are spongy so they cannot be sold. Not to mention, with the current rainy weather, if we do not harvest them in time, they will rot and fall off."

There are many ripe tangerines but Mr. Hoa does not want to cut and sell them because they are cheap. Photo: Minh Thai

Similarly, Cao Xuan Hiep's household in hamlet 4A is also restless because the tangerine garden has reached harvest time to pay off the investment debt, but only a few quintals of the whole garden can be selected, the rest are sour and spongy.

According to Mr. Hiep, with that quantity and current prices, grade 1 tangerines at the garden cost only 10-12 thousand VND/kg, grade 2 costs 5-6 thousand VND/kg, compared to last year at nearly 20 thousand VND/kg, but it is still very difficult to sell because traders do not like them, so there is not enough money for fertilizers, pesticides...

It is known that in the past time, implementing the policy of converting crops, Nghia Mai commune has converted more than 50 hectares of citrus trees, of which over 20 hectares are tangerines, of which 3 hectares are red tangerines. Mr. Cao Van Bang - Chairman of the Commune Farmers' Association said: In the commune, there are more than 10 households growing red tangerines, these are spontaneous growers so the selection of varieties has not been given attention, leading to poor fruit quality and difficulty in selling.

This year's red tangerines are beautiful but sour and spongy. Photo: Minh Thai