Kim Hoa is resplendent in orange.

HA TINH - Under the dry, late-year sun, the hillsides of Kim Hoa commune, Ha Tinh province, are ablaze with orange hues, a bountiful harvest that brings joy and good prices.

On a hillside plot of over 1 hectare, the pomelo orchard with approximately 300 trees belonging to Ms. Ha Thi Mai's family in Kim Loc village is entering its second fruiting season, with an estimated yield of nearly 10 tons.

These days, the orange groves are beginning to turn a golden yellow. The oranges are relatively uniform in size, have an attractive appearance, are round, have smooth skin, and a distinctly sweet flavor.

To ensure quality and minimize fruit drop, especially on heavily laden trees, orange growers have proactively used bamboo stakes for support, regularly inspected and removed diseased, old, and underdeveloped branches.

According to local orange growers, to keep the oranges fresh with their stems and leaves intact during harvest, they gently support the fruit with their left hand while carefully trimming it with scissors in their right hand. The "cam bu" orange has become a leading economic crop in the hilly areas of Kim Hoa commune, yielding a value 10-20 times higher than many other crops such as lemons, tangerines, or sugarcane.

In Cao Tra village, Kim Hoa commune, Mr. Uong Ba Tiep, despite being over 70 years old, still spends his days tending to his orchard of over 100 mandarin orange trees. These trees, having borne fruit for many years, have roots deeply embedded in the hillside soil, growing resiliently and producing consistent, high-quality fruit.

The harvest season for Huong Son mandarin oranges begins in early December of the lunar calendar and lasts through the Lunar New Year. Mandarin oranges are the main fruit crop of Kim Hoa commune.

The "Cam Bu" variety is similar to the "Cam Canh" variety, but it's larger, has a thick, smooth orange peel, and the segments are easily separated and very juicy. The "Cam Bu" fruit is quite large, weighing around 200-300g per fruit, with some weighing up to 500g. This is its most easily recognizable characteristic. During Tet (Vietnamese New Year), "Cam Bu" is a popular gift choice and a familiar fruit on the ancestral altars of many families in Ha Tinh , so demand is always high.

On average, one hectare of Huong Son mandarin oranges yields an income of approximately 70-100 million VND, with orchards producing a high yield potentially exceeding 200 million VND/hectare/year. The mandarin orange variety has an average harvesting cycle of about 15 years, but with good care, it can be harvested for over 20 years.

Besides expanding the cultivated area, people have actively applied scientific processes to cultivation to ensure safe products for consumers. This year, the fruit is beautiful in appearance, the quality is guaranteed, and the early season selling price at the orchard ranges from 30,000 to 40,000 VND/kg depending on the variety. The price of oranges will be higher closer to Tet (Lunar New Year).

Kim Hoa commune is currently considered the largest "capital" of pomelo cultivation in Ha Tinh province, with an area of ​​nearly 1,200 hectares, of which more than 900 hectares are bearing fruit, and over 450 households participating in pomelo farming. Thanks to suitable soil conditions, a unique climate, and the synchronized application of technical measures, the local pomelo production this year is estimated to reach over 1,000 tons.

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/kim-hoa-ruc-sac-cam-bu-d794091.html