Hai Duong: Thanh Ha litchi crop fails, early litchi output is only half of last year's

Thanh Ha District People's Committee preliminarily assessed that the district's lychee output this year is estimated to be 50% of last year's, with the whole district harvesting over 22,000 tons.

The lychee garden of Mr. Le Ba Phuc's family in Thanh Quang commune, Thanh Ha district, Hai Duong has few fruits this year. (Photo: Tien Vinh/VNA)

In recent days, Thanh Ha lychee growers (Hai Duong) have begun harvesting lychees early to supply the market.

Every year, this is the busy time for lychee harvest. However, this year, most of Thanh Ha's lychee area has suffered crop failure, with early lychee estimated to only reach 40-50%, while main-season lychee is only about 20-30% compared to 2023.

People are urgently harvesting ripe lychee trees but the yield is very low.

The family of Mrs. Pham Thi Nha, Phuc Gioi village, Thanh Quang commune, Thanh Ha district has been growing lychee for over 30 years. Mrs. Nha said that her family is harvesting lychee early to supply the market. With over 50 early lychee trees, her family only harvested 20% compared to last year's crop.

The poor litchi crop is believed to be due to the weather. This year, litchis bloomed on humid days, so the fruit set rate was low even though the family had carefully tended the litchi trees according to the instructions of the commune and district's professional staff.

Like Mrs. Nha’s family, Mr. Le Ba Phuc’s family in Thanh Quang commune, Thanh Ha district also has nearly 200 long-term lychee trees that are ready for harvest. This year, his family’s lychee harvest is only about 10% compared to previous years.

Mr. Phuc attributed the crop failure to unfavorable weather. In previous years, the lychee trees bore fruit during the dry season, with the addition of an easterly wind. This year, his family’s lychee garden bore fruit during the southerly wind, so the fruit set rate was very low.

Mr. Nha added that it can prevent frost, fungus, and disease, but there is no way to overcome humid weather. In 2023, nearly 200 lychee trees brought him an income of several hundred million VND, this year he only earns about 40-50 million VND.

Many traders who buy lychees for export to the Chinese market and for domestic consumption have come to the gardens to buy lychees but have only been able to buy 10-15% of the amount compared to last year. On average, each trader buys 30-40 tons of lychees per day, but this year, they have only been able to buy 5-6 tons per day.

Thanh Thuy commune is one of the communes with large lychee growing areas in Thanh Ha district. The whole commune has over 340 hectares of early and main-season lychee.

The lychee garden of Mr. Le Ba Phuc's family in Thanh Quang commune, Thanh Ha district, Hai Duong has few fruits this year. (Photo: VNA)

Mr. Le Van Tuan, Vice Chairman of Thanh Thuy Commune People's Committee, said that lychee is the main crop of people in the commune. The commune's early lychee crop is estimated to reach 60-70%, while the main crop and late lychee crop are only estimated to reach 20% compared to previous years.

During the lychee care period, the local government coordinated with specialized agencies of the province and district to guide people to take care of the lychee according to the correct process, spray pesticides to prevent diseases as well as apply techniques to take care of the lychee trees from the time they are about to flower. This year, due to changes in the weather, most of the lychee growing area in the commune has suffered crop failure.

Thanh Ha District People's Committee preliminarily assessed that the district's lychee output this year is estimated to be only 50% of last year's. The entire district harvested over 22,000 tons. Lychee growers will lose money in the 2024 lychee crop.

Lychee is one of the eight key agricultural products of Hai Duong, produced in a concentrated, large-scale manner, applying care technology according to VietGap processes, meeting food safety standards.

To increase the value of lychee, since the beginning of the year, Thanh Ha district has coordinated with central and provincial authorities to organize many trade promotions to sell lychee to countries such as China, Japan, the US, France, Malaysia, South Korea, etc.

Thanh Ha currently has 500 hectares of lychee recognized as meeting VietGap and GlobalGap standards. This year, the district continues to maintain 167 export-qualified codes, 12 packaging facilities with 21 licensed export packaging facility codes.

In 2024, Thanh Ha district will have 3,282 hectares of lychee, of which early lychee is about 1,900 hectares, the rest is main-season lychee./.

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