Farmers in specialty orange area cut down entire garden due to disease

(Baonghean.vn) - It's orange harvest season, but many orange growers in Quy Hop have to sadly cut down the oranges to replant.because the orange garden is stunted, has yellow leaves, no fruit, and is infected with disease.

A 4-year-old orange tree in Minh Hop commune, Quy Hop district, is diseased and cannot grow or bear fruit. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Coming to the key orange area of ​​Quy Hop district, it is easy to see orange gardens withered and not bearing fruit. Locals said that this was because the orange trees were infected with a disease. Symptoms include yellow leaves on the tops of the orange trees, stunted growth, few fruits, and if any, very small fruits. Some orange gardens have had their roots dug up and dried.

Mr. Le Quang Hoa in Minh Dinh hamlet, Minh Hop commune is using a saw to cut infected orange trees in the orange garden. He said: 3 years ago, he hired someone to graft the Xa Doai yellow-heart orange variety in the garden to plant 1 hectare of oranges. During the care process, although he invested appropriately and took good care, when the oranges first bore fruit, many trees were infected with yellow leaf disease, did not bear fruit, and were stunted. There is no specific medicine for this disease, so the treatment is to cut them down and replant them.

Mr. Le Quang Hoa in Minh Dinh hamlet, Minh Hop commune, cuts off diseased branches in his 4-year-old orange garden. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Orange trees with yellow leaf disease. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Hoa's orange garden has 450 trees, of which 1/3 are infected. It would be a pity to cut down the infected trees, so he solved the problem by cutting off the trees with few diseased branches; and digging up the roots of the trees with severe disease to replant.

"I know that digging for intercropping will affect the quality of the orange garden, but I have to accept it because if I leave it like that, the disease will spread to the whole orange garden, causing more damage," Mr. Hoa shared.

There are orange gardens in Quy Hop that have had to be dug up because of disease. Photo: Xuan Hoang

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quy Hop district, the whole district has nearly 2,800 hectares of oranges, of which 1,200 hectares have been harvested. Of these, about 350 hectares of oranges during the fruiting period are affected by leaf ring disease and some other diseases. There are many reasons, including poor quality varieties. Currently, in Quy Hop district, there are 9 establishments that grow oranges and produce various types of orange varieties for sale to local people.

Not only in Quy Hop but also in Nghia Dan district, many households are in the situation of "cutting down the trees is a waste of time and care, but leaving them like that means no harvest" because they bought poor quality orange varieties.

Poor quality oranges picked from infected orange trees. Photo: Xuan Hoang

To grow 1 hectare of oranges to harvest age, people have to invest hundreds of millions of dong. Therefore, oranges are infected with diseases in large numbers, making it very difficult for people to invest in new planting.

In addition, people are currently wondering where to buy quality seedlings when there are so many orange seedlings floating around the market?

Xuan Hoang