Onion and garlic harvest festival in Kinh Mon

The first onion and garlic harvest festival was held in Dich Son village field, Hiep Hoa commune, Kinh Mon town.

This is an event that helps local people express their solidarity and long-standing attachment to onion fields. During the festival, visitors participate in fun activities, folk games, watch traditional art performances and enjoy specialties made from onions and garlic.

The highlight of the festival is the onion and garlic harvesting competition between farmers from three villages: Dich Son, An Bo and Chau Bo of Hiep Hoa commune. Each team harvests a row of onions, bunches of onions and hangs them on a rack, in no more than 10 minutes.

The onion harvesting teams wear traditional costumes and headscarves in the green space, covered in gentle yellow sunlight, creating a vivid and attractive picture.

There was a time when the onion fields in Kinh Mon were likened to golden fields.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Ha in Le Ninh commune recalls: The foundation for the strong change of the homeland today is thanks to the onion fields. For purely agricultural communes such as Le Ninh, Hiep Hoa, Thang Long, Lac Long, if there were no specialized onion growing areas, it would be difficult for farmers to escape poverty, let alone get rich.

Many families build houses, buy conveniences, support their parents, educate their children... all depend on onions.

Onions and garlic are the main crops, accounting for 90% of the total winter crop area of Kinh Mon town (onion area 3,900 ha, garlic 150 ha out of a total of 4,400 ha of winter crops). Onions and garlic are grown most concentratedly in the southern An Phu area, some communes in the northern An Phu area and Tam Luu area.

Annual output is about 100,000 tons of fresh onions and 4,000 tons of fresh garlic. The annual value of winter crops in Kinh Mon town is about 1,500-1,700 billion VND, mainly onions and garlic.

Onions and garlic from Kinh Mon are superior to those from other regions in terms of spiciness, aroma, and nutritional value. They are essential spices in the kitchens of many Vietnamese families; they are processed into fried and dried onion products; black garlic, garlic wine, honey-soaked garlic, etc.

Kinh Mon onion and garlic products have been honored many times as “Golden Brand of Vietnamese Agriculture ”, are widely sold in traditional markets, supermarkets, on e-commerce platforms and exported to Japan, Europe, Thailand, Malaysia, etc.

Chairman of the People's Committee of Hiep Hoa Commune, Nguyen Van Quan, said: People here are very happy and excited when the Onion and Garlic Festival is held. Hiep Hoa has a long tradition of intensive onion cultivation. Nearly 400 hectares of cultivated land in the commune and all the puddles and low-lying fields have been filled with mud suction machines by the people to get soil to grow onions.

Although onion crops have been bountiful for many consecutive seasons and prices have been good, farmers are still worried because the output of onions is not guaranteed. Basically, farmers still produce and consume according to market fluctuations.

Therefore, through the festival, people hope that Kinh Mon onions, garlic and products made from onions and garlic will have more opportunities to compete fairly; the quality value, culture of the countryside and the brand of onions and garlic here will follow tourists and through the media will continue to spread further...

In order for onion and garlic fields to remain stable and bring high value, it is necessary for authorities at all levels and functional sectors to pay attention, encourage and have preferential mechanisms to build factories and agricultural processing facilities, ensuring the purchase of 30-40% of onion output for farmers, so that onions have a solid foothold and create development momentum.

Attending the Kinh Mon Onion and Garlic Festival, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan felt: The Kinh Mon Onion and Garlic Festival will be like a new breeze blowing cool air over the fields, refreshing people who have spent generations only knowing how to diligently cultivate a spice that makes meals more delicious for many people.

The festival helps Kinh Mon people become more confident and proud of their hometown products that will reach kitchens across regions of the country.

Festivals are economic activities associated with cultural and historical activities, with rural social activities. Selling onions and garlic of low value, selling the emotional space of experiencing the craft village of onion and garlic production will open up a space of much greater value.

Then, when people from far away see onions and garlic, they will think of Kinh Mon. Then, when Kinh Mon is mentioned, people will think of onions and garlic, imbued with the flavor of the land and the soul of the people. Then, Kinh Mon people will create homelands worth living in, worth visiting, and worth returning to.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/le-hoi-thu-hoach-hanh-toi-o-kinh-mon-post795555.html