Modernization of transport infrastructure

National Highway 31, the inter-provincial route connecting Lang Son with Bac Giang and the western districts of Bac Giang, is often referred to by the Luc Ngan as “the Lychee Road”. During peak harvest season, this is a gathering place for people and traders to consume the province’s main agricultural produce.

However, since the roadbed is 7.5m wide, many sections are degraded, Highway 31 is often congested. In recognition of this problem, the Directorate of Roads of Vietnam (Ministry of Transport) has approved the project for renovation and modernization of National Highway 31, section from Km2+400 to Km44+900. Starting point at the intersection with National Road 1, Bac Giang Town; the terminus at the intersection with Provincial Road 290, Luc Ngan District.

This project will be invested according to the standard of Delta Road Class III, 2 lanes for motor vehicles, design speed 80 km/h (section through densely populated and urban area, design speed 60 km/h). The road bed is 12 m wide, the road surface is 7 m wide and the curb is reinforced by 2 m on each side. Road structure made of asphalt concrete on gravel or reinforced asphalt concrete directly on the old road surface.

The total investment for this project is VND 863.6 billion from the state budget in the medium-term public investment plan 2021-2025. Luc Ngan District People’s Committee Chairman Mr. La Van Nam said construction of the project is expected to start in late June 2022.

“Currently, the district people’s committee has cleared the ground and will hand over the land to investors in a timely manner. We are striving to complete the Highway 31 renovation and upgrading project within 2 years. If the schedule is right, we will have a spacious road by the lychee harvest in 2024,” Mr. Nam said.

In 2021, while awaiting the completion of the project, Luc Ngan District has been actively constructing and completing Bypass Road 289 from Tan Moc Township to Chu to connect with Road 293, while also constructing an additional branch road from Road 293 . to the community of My An to relieve pressure on National Highway 31. Besides, the district is also expanding roads into concentrated lychee production areas such as Hong Giang, Giap Son, Tan Son, Tan Hoa, Thanh Hai and Ho Chi Minh. Answer.

“Lychee is not only a specialty of the Luc Ngan district, but of the whole country. That is why we always want people, businesses and tourists to walk to the capital of lychees on wide streets,” stressed Nam.

maximize value

In crop year 2022, lychee was sold at the garden price of about VND 35,000/kg, the highest in history. However, in some places, people are still worried because the cost of materials, fertilizers and pesticides is higher than the same period of years.

To address this shortage, the Luc Ngan District People’s Committee has sent out an official letter urging companies to sell fertilizers and pesticides in the form of deferred payments. Farmers are incentivized to buy produce in advance and pay at the end of the harvest, helping ease pressure on bank loans.

By optimizing the input costs, the district is also oriented towards the diversification of the consumption markets. In addition to the traditional Chinese market, this year’s Luc Ngan lychee will be heavily promoted in the southern market. Mr. La Van Nam said the district received an offer to transport 2 containers of lychee per day to Soc Trang province at an attractive rate.

“Every year, we often worry about the problem of falling prices. But this year I can confirm that Luc Ngan lychees are being transported a lot to the south,” said Mr. Nam.

Along with the expansion of the road south, Luc Ngan District also brought lychee to industrial zones and signed a contract with Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group; At the same time, they continue to put lychee on the e-commerce floor. The core of the problem, according to Mr. Nam, is that Luc Ngan implemented the consumption plan very early and proactively from February 2022.

On June 14, the People’s Committee of the Luc Ngan District invites the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Tour companies from the northern region come to Luc Ngan to experience 2 days of garden tourism. From the experience of developing tourism in the raw material areas for the cultivation of oranges and pomelos, Luc Ngan has launched the “Luc Ngan Summer Flavors” project, which aims to integrate multi-values ​​for the key crop, lychee.

According to Mr. Dinh Van Phuong, Deputy Head of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Luc Ngan, the district has been relatively successful in spreading the lychee crop. Compared to before, the harvest time was encapsulated in only one month, now lychee is harvested in about 60-70 days.

Currently Luc Ngan has 4 lychee tea. A precocious tea, harvested on May 20th; the second tea (usually called Thanh Ha Litchi) will be harvested in about 10 days from June 15; third tea – high season – harvested until about 15.7.; The last tea is in the highland communities and is harvested by July 30th.

Besides fresh fruit, Luc Ngan has invited many companies like Global, Dong Giao, etc. to build processing plants in the district. This year, the district plans to apply lychee drying technology for export to Europe.

Strict control of trading activities

One of the most painful problems for farmers who have been growing lychee for many years is the phenomenon of traders losing weight and enforcing prices. According to Chairman La Van Nam, the main cause of this phenomenon is that people don’t know who to sell lychee to at harvest. Therefore, they leave long stalks or do not sort the fruit to reduce labor costs.

Meanwhile, lychees on the European market have to be cut close to each fruit. In the Chinese market, lychee leaves and stems must not be shorter than 10 cm. The taste of the domestic market is that lychee must have beautiful new leaves.

When people meet Chinese traders and get a higher price, they often accept to sell immediately rather than pre-process the need. This results in a deduction of 5-7kg, even more.

“The mentality of the relatives is that even if a few pounds are deducted, there is not much impact to meet traders who buy and export to China. If you meet traders who buy and sell domestically, the better. Just like that, it’s becoming a habit for dozens of people this year,” said Mr. Nam.

District People’s Committee Chairman Luc Ngan added that the weight deduction is a civil transaction agreed between the two parties and therefore cannot be sanctioned. To ensure people’s benefit, Luc Ngan has coordinated with the market management teams to quickly identify the cases of inappropriate weight loss; and regularly check the weighing points. Violators will be severely prosecuted in accordance with commercial fraud prevention regulations.

In addition, all municipalities in the district have set up working groups and hotlines. The chairman of the township people’s committee serves as the squad leader, and the chief of the township police serves as the deputy squad leader. If citizens find violations, they can notify the hotline through the functional unit to conduct an inspection.

“In this year’s case, we have not received any notification from the hotline and have not identified any cases of unreasonable weight loss. If we implement the above measures synchronously and comprehensively, we anticipate that this will no longer be a problem,” Mr. Nam said.

In parallel with trade promotion activities, Luc Ngan District is spreading and raising farmers’ awareness of organic farming, towards clean farming.

Luc Ngan Lychee is proud to be the first product to be granted a Geographical Indication in the Japanese market and has been exported to over 30 countries including demanding markets. Recently, Luc Ngan Lychee received a warm welcome at the Vietnam Festival in Japan, held in Tokyo.