Farmers in the specialty orange growing area have cut down their entire orchards 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, does not produce fruit, and is infected with disease.

A 4-year-old orange tree in Minh Hop commune, Quy Hop district is infected with pests and diseases, unable to grow and produce fruit. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Coming to the key orange growing area of ​​Quy Hop district, it is easy to see orange gardens that are barren and do not produce fruit. Locals say that this is because the oranges are infected with a disease. Symptoms include yellow leaves on the tops of orange trees, stunted growth, few fruits, and if any, the fruits are very small. 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 Xa Doai yellow-heart oranges 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 short. 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 seriously diseased trees 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 from the roots 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 in 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 them down is a waste of time and effort to take care of them, 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 on the market?

Xuan Hoang