Tears and laughter during the lychee season in Bac Ninh.

TPO - Amidst soaring lychee prices in Bac Ninh province, many households earned hundreds of millions of dong in just a few days of selling their fruit. However, many other orchard owners were left empty-handed due to crop failure. In the same lychee season, joy and sorrow are separated by only a few rows of trees.

In late May, as the sun rose over the hills of Phuc Hoa commune, Bac Ninh province, convoys of trucks lined up to buy fabric in the village. The bustling atmosphere of the harvest season filled the country roads.

Amidst the laughter and chatter of traders, the clicking sound of scissors cutting the stems, and the sweet aroma of ripe lychees, some people rejoiced as if it were a festival, while others stood silently, gazing at the bare orchards.

For the past few days, Mr. Bui Manh Thang (from Voi village) has had almost no time to rest. From early morning to late night, he and his relatives have been continuously harvesting, packing, and weighing lychees for traders. This is the peak season for early lychee harvesting, and for Mr. Thang, this year's lychee season is fetching good prices.

His family has been involved with lychee cultivation for nearly 20 years, currently cultivating about 0.7 hectares. While many neighboring households suffered losses due to crop failure, his orchard remains laden with fruit, with an estimated yield of about 5 tons.

A lychee grower in Phuc Hoa commune is delighted because he got a good price this year.

Standing under a vibrant red lychee tree, Mr. Thang couldn't hide his joy as he received numerous phone calls from traders inquiring about purchasing his fruit. "I've already sold about 3 tons of lychees. This year's harvest was poor, so the price is high, nearly 40,000 VND/kg. Since the beginning of the season, I haven't had to worry about the selling price," Mr. Thang said enthusiastically.

That joy is even more evident considering that many years ago, there were times when lychee prices plummeted, forcing people to sell them individually in baskets at the market. Therefore, for those households that managed to maintain their yield this year, this is considered a rare "recovery" harvest.

It's not just Thang's family; the early-ripening lychee orchard of Mr. Ngo Tuong Vi in Quat Du 2 village, Phuc Hoa commune, has also been bustling with people coming and going for the past few days.

Mr. Vi said that about a week before the lychees ripened, 3-4 traders came to his orchard every day to inquire about buying them. Many even wanted to place a deposit to buy the entire orchard early, but he refused because he wanted to sell in batches to maintain the price.

Traders are coming to buy lychees from Bac Ninh.

His family's lychee orchard, covering about 1 hectare, is expected to yield approximately 10 tons this year. Notably, at the beginning of the season, he even sold them for as much as 70,000 VND/kg.

"My fabric meets export standards, so the price is higher than the average. This year, many traders have come to me," Mr. Vi shared.

In the midst of the hot season, baskets of bright red lychees bring in millions of dong every day, bringing joy to many households. However, just a few orchards laden with fruit, many lychee growers are facing financial ruin, including the family of Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan (in Voi village), who planted over 1 hectare of lychees but this year had almost no fruit.

Sharing the same feeling of regret, Mr. Nguyen Van Thiet from Lan Thinh village, Phuc Hoa commune, stood in his lychee orchard, unable to hide his sadness. His family cultivates nearly 1 hectare of lychee trees. In previous years, the yield usually reached over 6 tons, but this year they harvested less than 1 ton.

"This year, lychees are selling for over 40,000 VND/kg, significantly higher than in previous years. It's just a pity that the harvest was poor; the yield is only about a quarter of last year's," Mr. Thiet shared.

According to local residents, erratic weather during the flowering and fruiting stages is the reason why many lychee orchards have suffered crop failures.

This year, the lychee harvest in Bac Ninh province has brought joy to some because the trees are laden with fruit and the prices are good, but sadness to others because they have lost everything.

According to the head of the Economic Department of Phuc Hoa commune, Phuc Hoa is a key early-ripening lychee growing area in Bac Ninh province. As of May 25th, the locality had sold approximately 6,000 tons of early-ripening lychees.

What makes many orchard owners happy is that this year the price of lychees has remained high, ranging from 35,000 to 50,000 VND/kg. In some exceptional cases, high-quality lychees have sold for over 100,000 VND/kg.

This year's lychee season in Bac Ninh has therefore become a multifaceted picture. Here, laughter rings out beneath the vibrant red lychee trees laden with fruit, fetching good prices. But elsewhere, some farmers can only stand and gaze at the sparsely fruited branches with regret.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Bac Ninh province, this year the entire province has approximately 29,800 hectares of lychee orchards, with an expected yield of over 95,000 tons. Of this, the area of ​​early-season lychees is about 8,200 hectares with a yield of over 40,000 tons; and the main-season lychees account for about 21,600 hectares with a yield of over 55,000 tons.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/khoc-cuoi-mua-vai-thieu-bac-ninh-post1846045.tpo