Orange orchards in Nghe An are laden with fruit, covered in netting.
(Baonghean.vn) - During the harvest season, Vinh orange orchards covered with netting yield high productivity, stable quality, and attractive appearance. Therefore, they are more favored by the market, creating a high income for orange growers in Nghe An province.
Visitorange groveAt the home of Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong in Hamlet 1, Thanh Duc Commune (Thanh Chuong District), during the first days of the new year, we were surprised to see the orange trees laden with ripe, golden fruit, many covered by a large net. Ms. Huong has been using this method of protecting the orange trees by covering them with nets for many years, and it has proven to be very effective.
Ms. Huong said: Orange trees are finicky and require a lot of care. Especially because oranges are fragrant and sweet, many insects come to bore into the fruit. Using pesticides to kill insects would affect the quality of the oranges and be unsafe for consumers. Therefore, she decided to plant orange trees instead.organic orangesShe uses biological preparations for care, and for insects and pests, she covers and wraps the fruit to protect it.
With 2,200 Xa Doai orange trees, now seven years old, Ms. Huong has experimented with using netting to protect about 500 trees from pests and diseases. Although the cost is not cheap, investment is necessary to produce high-quality oranges.
“On average, each sheet of netting covers one orange tree, and the market price is 250,000 VND per sheet. The netting alone costs over 120 million VND, which is not cheap at all. However, in return, the oranges are well protected, the number of fallen fruit has decreased significantly, and my family no longer needs to use pesticides…,” Ms. Huong confided.
Besides the 500 orange trees that are completely covered with netting, Ms. Huong also wraps each fruit individually in paper bags for the remaining trees. This method is more cost-effective, with each paper bag costing 500 dong. To date, the oranges are still growing well and are popular in the market.
The practice of covering orange trees with netting has also been adopted by orange growers in Anh Son district in recent years. Mr. Tran Minh Dinh, from Dinh Son commune, has 250 Xa Doai orange trees with yellow flesh. This is the third year his family has applied netting to their orange trees after seeing the clear benefits in previous years.
“The pests that damage oranges are fruit flies and stink bugs. These two insects come to bore into the fruit every season. If oranges are bitten by these insects, they will leave dark marks on the fruit, which then spread, causing the fruit to rot and fall off quickly. Therefore, covering the orange trees with netting to prevent them from entering is the most feasible solution…,” Mr. Dinh said.
In May, when the oranges begin to bear fruit, Mr. Dinh's family also starts putting up mosquito nets. When the cold winter arrives and these insects disappear, it's time for him to take down the nets to prepare for the harvest.
Although each net costs between 200,000 and 300,000 VND, if you buy a good quality one, it can last for 2-3 seasons. This helps people save costs and effort compared to spraying pesticides as before. In particular, oranges grown under nets always have an attractive appearance, beautiful peel, and no insect bites, making them popular in the market.
Currently, Nghe An province has 1,820 hectares of orange groves, a sharp decrease compared to the past (nearly 6,000 hectares at its peak). However, up to 50% of the current area is still in a state of decline. The area of high-quality oranges is now concentrated in only a few regions such as Thanh Chuong, Nghi Loc, Anh Son, Con Cuong, and Yen Thanh… Former key orange-growing areas like Quy Hop, Nghia Dan, and Tan Ky… have almost disappeared.
Therefore, organic farming, ensuring the safe development of orange trees and preventing degradation, is essential for their preservation.Vinh oranges, a local specialty.And covering the orange trees with netting is one of the effective methods that should be widely adopted.