Mandarin gardens ‘revived’

After the “kingdom” of mandarin oranges experienced an epidemic that caused hundreds of hectares of persimmon orchards to die of yellow rot and farmers suffered, the locality and Dong Thap Provincial People’s Committee were determined to restore mandarin tree because this is a special tree with high economic value that serves the fruit in the five-fruit bowl on Tet days.

Recently, the persimmon tree adopts the cultivation technique according to the 2020-2024 Pink Tangerine Garden Preservation Project in Lai Vung District. This time it is still more than 1 month until the Lunar New Year. , gardeners who grow tangerines in Lai Vung district are busy tending persimmon gardens to serve the Tet market. Although the area of ​​persimmon trees currently bearing fruit is not as large as it used to be at over 200 hectares, many gardeners also have high expectations for this year’s bountiful persimmon harvest.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dong from Long Hung Hamlet in Long Hau Township (Lai District) is busy taking care of a 1.5 hectare persimmon garden that is 15 years old. He still welcomes us. Mr. Dong laughed and said, “In recent years, the tangerine garden suffered from tree failure and yellow rot disease, resulting in the death of about half of the trees in the garden. Last year, thanks to timely application of new tree techniques and the use of organic fertilizers, spraying through the leaves and fertilizing the soil, helped the plants recover well.

At the same time, I also use nets around the tangerine garden to prevent the attack of pests. Besides, I also reduced the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, but switched to fertilizers and organic pesticides to help the plants recover quickly and give fake fruits, good design and good quality.

In Dong’s tangerine garden, the trees started bearing false fruit again this year, the fruits are bright, shiny, round, and fewer pests attack the leaves and fruit… His tangerine garden is reported to yield 3.5-4 tons/attack and around Harvested 25-27 Tet to sell to traders in Ho Chi Minh City to buy at the price of 45,000 – 50,000 VND/kg. According to his estimates, this year’s sale of tangerines, when the price reaches VND 50,000/kg and the yield is 3.5 tons/ton, his family will benefit from VND 900 million to VND 1 billion, net of all costs.

Similarly, Mr. Tran Van Tuan, also in Long Hau Township, Lai Vung District with 1.2 ha of persimmons said: Thanks to the application of the technical procedure according to the Lai Vung District Persimmon Garden Preservation Project, at present mandarine orchards are recovering its persimmons and grow well and bear quite a lot of fruit compared to last year.

Mr. Tuan said: Like every year, around the 8th lunar month, gardeners need to focus on nurturing and providing nutrients so that the fruits can meet the standards of taste, color and ripening on the Tet holiday. This year the family is very excited about the strong tangerine tree, the yield is expected to double compared to last year. He is currently doing the link selection. When the weather is favorable, the garden’s fruit yield can reach about 30-35 tons/ha.

Eagerly waiting for the Lai Vung Mandarin Festival

Since 2015, Mr. Doan Anh Kiet has been using 5 public land in Long Hau Township, Lai Vung District to grow mandarins. He started opening the door for tourists to take photos and enjoy the garden.

Mr. Kiet was the first farmer in Lai Vung District to practice garden tourism in this new way because nobody had thought of it at the time. However, the attractions of its tangerine garden are visited by many tourists, on the winter days of Tet like festivals, then many gardeners follow.

Mr. Kiet said that thanks to the development of a pink tangerine garden, he began opening the garden door to welcome thousands of tourists from all over the world to every year from the 10th to the 27th day of the 12th lunar month (lunar calendar). visit and photograph, so that his family has an income of several hundred million Dong. He also sells tangerines to serve the Tet fruit market.

In addition to the tangerine tree used for tourists to visit the garden, gardeners in Lai Vung are even more creative, planting tangerines in pots to serve as ornamental plants for Tet fruit in homes and offices.

Everyone in the region knows that old farmer Luu Van Rang in Vinh Thoi Township (Lai Vung District) is the “father” of ornamental red tangerines. Mr. Rang was the first western farmer to come up with the idea of ​​converting the tangerines in his garden into tet trees. The tangerine tree is usually tall, with lush branches, but through his skillful hands it has turned into an ornamental tree only 1-1.5 m tall. The beauty of Mr. Rang is the shortening of the shape of the tree, but the tangerine fruit is still the same size as usual and the taste does not change, the price is between 3-7 million VND/pot.

According to Mr. Rang, to grow a pot of red tangerines for sale during Tet requires extremely hard care, high technical ability, especially patience, diligence and the preparation of seedlings more than 2 years ago. Each year, hundreds of pots of ornamental unique and strange tangerines have helped Mr. Rang make hundreds of millions of dongs in profit.

Mr. Vo Hoang Cuong, secretary of the Lai Vung District Party Committee, said: In the coming period, the district will focus on the development of agricultural economy towards linkage, safety, cost reduction, quality improvement, profit increase and maintenance of Lai Vung brand tangerine. In which the renovation of the production organization is well implemented and the link between production and market is promoted. In particular, focus on the application of science and technology, and increase the application of high-tech agriculture for tangerines.

In addition, mobilizing farmers to participate in forms of cooperation to link production and consumption of products, forming concentrated production areas of reasonable size, strengthening farmers’ training to implement the production process export in accordance with VietGAP standards. production combined with traceability by growing area code; Calling on companies inside and outside the district to invest in production and purchase agricultural products for farmers under contracts.

According to Mr. Cuong, the Lai Vung County Party Committee and the County People’s Committee will organize the “First Lai Vung Mandarin Festival” with the theme “Aspiration to rise up” in early January 2023 (expected to be held on the 1st day of the year) Aug. 5-1. 2023) to honor, introduce and promote the image of tangerine trees and tangerines, as well as the cultural and economic values ​​of Lai Vung tangerine products. This will develop tourism associated with local products and create a friendly and hospitable image of Lai Vung to attract many people.

Mr. Huynh Minh Tri, Head of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Lai Vung District, said: The entire Lai Vung District currently has more than 200 hectares of persimmons for Tet. At the 2023 Lunar New Year mandarin harvest, the district’s persimmon production is expected to provide the market with more than 5,000 tons of fruit, double the previous year’s volume.

At present, the weather is stable and the air is cool for the tangerine tree to grow well. In order to help the farmers in the district with the production of solid food, the agriculture sector regularly sends officials to the garden every Tet mandarin harvest to make prompt appropriate recommendations for agriculture.

According to Mr. Tri, the areas where mandarins are grown in Lai Vung have been awarded growing area codes and within 10 years the Lai Vung Mandarine trademark by the National Office of Intellectual Property.