Yen Thanh sustainably develops citrus fruit trees

On an area of ​​1 hectare of hilly land in Nhan Tien hamlet, Tien Thanh mountainous commune, Mr. Tran Dinh Thuoi's family used to grow pineapples and forestry trees for paper production, but the efficiency was not high. Realizing that the fruit market has a lot of potential, in recent years, his family decided to renovate and re-plan the hill garden, cut down ineffective trees, and replace them with 500 pomelo trees.

Thanks to the application of scientific and technical advances in the fertilization process, his family's orange garden has developed well, limiting pests and diseases. During the harvest season, the trees produce many fruits, ripe and golden, ensuring product quality factors, and are purchased by traders from many places right at the garden at stable prices.

He said that although he has planted many types of fruit trees, none of them have brought in as much economic value as the orange tree. His family’s orange garden has been planted for 5 years and has begun to produce fruit steadily. In 2018, each orange tree brought in over 700,000 VND.

Leaders of Yen Thanh province and district visited orange garden in Dong Thanh commune.

With its potential and advantages, in addition to growing traditional fruit trees, people in the mountainous commune of Tien Thanh are now focusing on developing citrus trees, creating commercial products and increasing income.

According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Dai - Chairman of Tien Thanh Commune People's Committee, in order to promote the potential advantages of the semi-mountainous commune, the local government has recently issued many policies to encourage people to develop this model, in which the transfer of scientific and technological advances plays an important role. While expanding the area, we must pay attention to the product output market, creating peace of mind for the people, and gradually building the local brand of pomelos.

Farmers in Dong Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) apply agricultural technology to grow commercial oranges. Photo: Thai Duong

Up to now, some citrus fruit varieties have initially shown economic efficiency and adaptability to the hilly garden land in Yen Thanh district. Especially, in concentrated orange and grapefruit production areas, applying high technology has helped many families escape poverty and become rich right on their homeland.

In particular, Dong Thanh orange products have been granted a “Geographical Indication” Certificate by the Intellectual Property Office. This is a favorable condition to help citrus fruit products of Yen Thanh district have more brands, in order to promote and expand the consumption market.

Currently, the whole Yen Thanh district has about 500 hectares of oranges, tangerines, and green-skinned grapefruit, of which Yen Thanh oranges are certified VietGAP. To manage and exploit this brand well, the district has focused on promoting and mobilizing people to apply technical advances in production according to the clean agricultural product chain in a sustainable direction, improving quality and bringing economic efficiency to producers.

Accordingly, in the coming time, the district's agricultural sector is continuing to direct localities to synchronously implement solutions, first of all, doing a good job of planning citrus fruit tree planting by region, suitable for land and climate; implementing scientific and technological solutions, developing quality varieties; promoting trade promotion, connecting markets so that citrus fruit products have stable output.

Yen Thanh oranges have been well received by the market in recent years.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Duong - Head of the Agriculture Department of Yen Thanh district, drawing on experience from some localities in the province about the situation of mass production of citrus trees, leading to good harvests, falling prices, and unstable output products.

Therefore, after the announcement of the agricultural production planning, some hill communes will be arranged by the district to plant appropriately. In parallel with promoting the transfer of scientific and technological advances and applying high-tech production, the district will organize tours of effective orange growing models, thereby helping people gain more knowledge and experience to build suitable models, and at the same time apply support policies and mechanisms in model development as well as promote citrus growing projects approved by competent authorities.

Encouraging people to get rich from citrus trees in hilly areas and promoting agricultural restructuring is the goal that Yen Thanh district authorities are aiming for.

Hopefully, with the initial successes achieved, along with the district's support policies and the efforts of farmers to get rich, Yen Thanh district will achieve new progress in the field of agricultural and rural production, improving the living standards and income of the people.