Currently, the whole Ham Yen District has 4 groups of households producing organic oranges, with the orange area converted to organic production according to Vietnamese PGS organic standards of 22.6 ha/15 participating households in Bang Coc communes . , Tan Thanh, Nhan City Muc and Ham Yen. Organically produced Ham Yen oranges are mainly BH32 and BH32 varieties. 100% organic orange products are all traceable and connected to companies and retailers at a price of 25,000/kg, twice the price of conventionally grown oranges.

Dang Van Thanh’s family has cultivated 3 ha of oranges in Ham Yen Hamlet 2, Tan Thanh Township, Ham Yen District, 1.5 ha of which have been organically grown for 5 years. This year, right at the beginning of the harvest, when the oranges were harvested, many important traders in large supermarkets came to order and buy.

With 1.5 ha of oranges grown in the usual way, Mr. Thanh’s family earned about 30 tons. When cultivated according to the organic model, an area of ​​1.5 ha now yields around 15 tons. However, organic oranges are bought at the price of 25,000 VND/kg minus the cost, Mr. Thanh makes a profit of 5,000-7,000 VND/kg (compared to conventionally grown oranges, the profit is only 1,000-2,000 VND/kg). . .

Mr. Dang Van Thanh said that his family has been producing organic oranges for 5 years, in 2020 an area of ​​1.5 ha of his family’s oranges will be recognized as organic. On average, its organic orange orchard earns about VND130 million/year every year, while the average orange orchard area only earns about VND100 million/year.

Although the price of organic oranges is high, Ham Yen orange farmers are also facing difficulties such as high fertilizer prices this year. In addition, the cost of hiring workers for tending and harvesting has also risen sharply. If only 200,000 VND/person/day was rented last year, this year it will increase to 300,000 VND/person/day.

Mr. Hoang Bien’s family in the Tan Yen Residential Community in Tan Yen Town (Ham Yen District) owns 2.4 hectares of organically grown oranges. Mr. Bien said that oranges are quite expensive this year and the yield is also stable. However, the major difficulty in organic farming is that there are currently no commercial agencies for fertilizers and organic products, while the process of producing processed products such as fertilizers and pesticides is very tedious and time-consuming.

Another difficulty for orange growers like him is that root rot disease and greening disease are spreading, killing thousands of acres of oranges. With the orange acreage organically grown and the gardeners having enough conditions to fertilize the trees, the mortality rate is low and most orange tree households die at the same time.

In fact, Tuyen Quang Province has many favorable conditions for the effective development of organic oranges. Because there is a large “clean land” fund here, some areas use less chemical fertilizers and pesticides, so the cost of investing in soil improvement is not high.

However, the difficulty in developing organic farming in Tuyen Quang is that the land fund in the region is still small, fragmented and not big enough for raw material production. Local orange varieties also need agencies and units to provide good disease-free varieties, because if farmers take care of the seeding phase themselves, they cannot control the quality, leading to risks and lack of sustainability.

Mr. Ha Phuc Mich, chairman of the Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association, said that after more than 4 years of implementing organic farming, Ham Yen District’s orange orchards have been progressively expanded. Furthermore, when oranges are recognized as organic, the market is ready to accept them. The role of the authorities, the local PGS, is to help farmers to promote trade, connect consumption, ensure stable production for farmers and secure profits so that farmers can be sure of organic oranges to manufacture.

According to Mr. Mich, the big obstacle for organic crop growers, especially in Tuyen Quang and across the country in general, is that there is no professional agricultural material service provider for units and farmers.