Nghia Dan farmers hit it big with late-ripening orange crop

Leading us into the Xa Doai orange garden, full of ripe fruit waiting to be harvested, Mr. Nguyen Nhat Tuan, hamlet 13B, Nghia Yen commune excitedly said: “I have been growing oranges for many years, but I find that growing late-ripening oranges for Tet brings higher income than oranges in the main season. When Tet comes, consumer demand is high, we don’t have to find an outlet, around the 11th lunar month, people come to order. Last year, my family harvested 100 million VND from the first crop of fruit, this year it will be double that.”

Mr. Nguyen Nhat Tuan takes care of his orange garden until harvest time. Photo: Minh Thai

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Van Ha's family in Le Lai hamlet, Nghia Hieu commune, also planted 6 sao, with 2 varieties of Xa Doai oranges, yellow-heart oranges and late-ripening Valen oranges. This year, in addition to the sales from the beginning of the season, his family still has 12 tons of late-ripening oranges to serve Tet.

According to Mr. Ha, this year, any family with a beautiful orange garden with high productivity will be considered to have hit the jackpot. Late-ripening oranges in particular can be bought for 60,000 - 70,000 VND/kg.

Late-ripening oranges are currently being ordered by traders at the garden. Photo: Minh Thai

According to the experience of households, growing late-ripening oranges is not difficult, but it requires more care. The soil for growing oranges must be loose, moist enough, fertilized properly and have drainage ditches to prevent waterlogging in time, avoid erosion of the orange tree roots, and understand the pest and disease process and the leaf change process on the tree during the months of the season.

To have good quality oranges and beautiful fruit, at the beginning of the season, growers must know how to intervene in the budding process, grasp the techniques of pruning flowers, pruning branches, and shaping the canopy so that the oranges bloom at the right time.

Thanks to proper care, late-ripening oranges ensure sweetness and beautiful appearance. Photo: Minh Thai

Currently, in Nghia Dan district, there are 1,035 hectares of orange growing area, of which nearly 350 hectares are late-ripening oranges.

Mr. Nguyen Huy Anh - Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture of Nghia Dan district said: Recently, the movement of growing citrus trees in Nghia Dan district has developed strongly, in which many households grow late-ripening oranges with high economic efficiency, each hectare brings in an income of 600-700 million VND. This is an effective form of spreading planting, so the district is researching to have a reasonable policy mechanism to support households to expand planting.

Minh Thai