Chiang Mai orange harvest season

Chieng Mai commune is blessed with fertile land and a temperate climate, suitable for growing crops, especially industrial crops and fruit trees. In recent years, the locality has planted many citrus fruit trees, most of which are oranges. Up to now, the whole commune has 20 hectares of oranges, mainly V2, Duong Canh, Navel, grown in Cu and Mai Khoang villages of the old Chieng Ban commune. Orange growers here have actively applied safe agricultural production processes, improving the quality and value of their products.

Farmers in Chieng Mai commune harvest oranges.

Visiting the orange garden of Mr. Tong Van Luyen's family in Cu village, I was surprised by the orange gardens full of fruit, all in rows. Holding a bunch of ripe oranges, Mr. Luyen shared: Previously, the entire area of the family's upland land was used to grow coffee, but it was often affected by frost, so the family switched to growing oranges. After learning from other households in the commune, I introduced the orange variety to intercrop on an area of 1 hectare. The advantages of this orange variety are its sweetness, few seeds, and high yield. After only 2 years of planting, the orange trees began to yield, traders came to the garden to buy at 35,000 VND/kg, the estimated output at the end of the season was about 15 tons, minus expenses, earning 350 million VND.

To achieve high productivity, Mr. Luyen invested in an economical irrigation system for the entire garden, pruning branches to create canopy according to technical procedures. In production, he uses by-products, agricultural waste, livestock waste, coffee grounds to compost into organic fertilizer for plants. Thanks to that, the cost of buying fertilizer is reduced, the garden is improved, grows well, has few pests and diseases, and fruit yield increases by about 30%.

Orange growing area in Cu village, Chieng Mai commune.

In the orange garden of Mr. Hoang Van Hung's family in Mai Khoang village, over the past 2 years, the orange trees have yielded sweet fruit. Mr. Hung confided: After many years of growing oranges from Vinh oranges to red-fleshed oranges and grapefruits, in 2018, after learning about orange growing experience in Moc Chau, I decided to buy 100 Navel orange trees to intercrop coffee trees. Grafted onto previous orange and grapefruit trees, the Navel orange variety grows well, is healthy, suitable for climate conditions and is especially not affected by frost. After nearly 5 years, the orange trees began to yield fruit, with uniform appearance, large, seedless and sweet. The consumption output is stable, with prices from 40,000 - 50,000 VND/kg, much higher than other crops.

The tangerine variety is grown a lot in Chieng Mai commune.

This year, Chieng Mai farmers have a good harvest and good prices for oranges, with the expected output of the whole commune reaching nearly 400 tons. Currently, some orange gardens have completed harvesting, and garden owners are pruning, pruning, and fertilizing the trees, preparing for the new crop. With the advantage of large hilly garden land and favorable soil conditions, the economic efficiency of orange trees is higher than other crops, averaging 300 million VND/ha. However, currently, in Chieng Mai, there are also some orange gardens that are degenerating with signs such as fruiting every other year, declining productivity and quality... The average business cycle of orange trees is about 7-10 years, well-cultivated gardens can last up to 15 years, while some orange gardens here show signs of aging and pests after 5-7 years of planting. The main causes are seed degeneration, lack of intensive investment, and limited farming techniques, leading to malnourished, weak, and disease-prone plants.

Oranges are collected and sold to traders.

To maintain the brand of Chieng Mai oranges and continue to increase the planting area, the People's Committee of the commune is coordinating with relevant agencies to guide people on how to care for and improve the planting area. For old trees, those with severe pests and diseases that have lost the main trunk or part of the canopy, it is necessary to treat them by pruning and cutting, and cultivating additional branches; grafting and improving new varieties for higher productivity. For gardens that have been replanted many times and have poor soil, it is necessary to have a crop rotation regime with legumes and apply organic fertilizer to improve the soil.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, Head of the Economic Department of Chieng Mai Commune, shared: The synchronous application of sustainable farming techniques helps protect the environment, creates conditions for orange trees to grow well, reduces the rate of diseased trees, and reduces damage caused by having to destroy degraded gardens. The commune is mobilizing and supporting people to apply scientific advances in production, creating safe products, maintaining and expanding the area, gradually building the Chieng Mai orange brand, and increasing farmers' income.

The orange growing model in Chieng Mai commune has been promoting outstanding economic efficiency, bringing stable income to the people. For orange trees to develop sustainably, the locality needs to continue to pay attention and support growers to build brands, promote products, enhance values associated with experiential ecotourism, contributing to the development of local socio-economy.

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