Fruit season in the Thất Sơn mountain range

VnExpress•12/06/2023

In An Giang, the hawthorn, durian, and rose apple trees are grown on the Thất Sơn mountain range – the highest peak in the Mekong Delta. During harvest season, farmers bring the flavors of the mountains and forests down to the slopes to sell to traders.

After the first rains of June, Mr. Tran Hoang Anh, the owner of a durian orchard near Suoi Tien waterfall, in the 700-meter-high Thien Cam Son mountain range, worked tirelessly. The ripening durians attracted squirrels and other small animals that came to damage them. The orchard owner had to use netting to ensure he had any fruit to sell. He selected metal mesh bags and placed them at the top of the trees for workers to wrap around the fruit.

The worker climbs the tree, which is over 5 meters high, wraps the fruit in a mesh bag, ties the opening securely, pulls a rope through a branch, and then gives the other end of the rope to the person below to tie to the trunk. Durian from the mountains is only harvested when the fruit is fully ripe and has fallen from the stem. This method of bagging the fruit helps the orchard owner easily collect the ripe fallen fruit without having to climb the tree again to untie the rope.

Durian trees on the mountain must be carefully wrapped to prevent squirrels from damaging them. Photo: Ngoc Tai — Durian trees on the mountain must be carefully wrapped to prevent squirrels from damaging them. Photo: *Ngoc Tai*

"We harvest and sell only the ripe fruits, so the durians from the mountains are especially fragrant, creamy, and not tough," Mr. Anh said, adding that the cool mountain climate means gardeners don't need to use much fertilizer or pesticides because the soil is fertile. With an orchard of over 30 trees, Mr. Anh harvests nearly two tons of fruit each year, with a stable price of 110,000-130,000 VND per kg. After deducting expenses, he earns about 200 million VND.

That Son, also known as Bay Nui, is a mountainous region interspersed with plains, encompassing four districts and cities in An Giang province: Chau Doc City, Tinh Bien, Tri Ton, and Thoai Son. Besides its fertile mountainous soil and altitude of 50-710 meters, the area enjoys a cool climate year-round, producing fruits with a natural, delicious mountain flavor that can fetch double the price of those from the plains.

However, irrigation water is very limited in the mountains. Besides relying on rain, mountain farmers find ways to channel water from streams to irrigate their orchards. In drought years with little rain, farmers can only watch as their fruit trees wither and die. In addition to wild fruits, mountain farmers also bring fruit tree varieties from the lowlands to cultivate in the mountains.

Mrs. Chi and her husband are preparing to transport the brides down the hillside to sell them. Photo: Ngoc Tai. — Mrs. Chi and her husband are preparing to transport the brides down the hillside to sell them. Photo: *Ngoc Tai.*

About 100 meters from Mr. Tran Hoang Anh's house, Mrs. Dinh Kim Chi's family's mulberry garden is in harvest season. Green mulberries hang abundantly on the branches, each cluster carefully picked by the gardener and placed into a basket. The mulberries closer to the base of the tree are usually larger, about half the size of an adult's wrist, with thick skin and a sweet and sour taste.

This year's strawberry harvest is bountiful, but the price is low. At the beginning of the season, traders bought them for 7,000 dong, but now it's only 4,000-5,000 dong per kilogram. With baskets full, Mrs. Chi and her husband carry them to the village road, about 150 meters from the garden, and empty them into two large baskets hanging on their motorbike before taking them down the hillside to sell. "Filling two large baskets and one small basket, weighing over 100 kilograms, is enough money to go to the wedding this morning," Mrs. Chi said.

Compared to durian, the income from star fruit is lower, but it requires less care, the trees bear fruit naturally and are plump when properly watered. The profits are enough for Mrs. Chi and her husband to live on for several months. In addition to star fruit, they also planted a few dozen durian, avocado, and rose apple trees interspersed with wild bamboo shoots on 5,000 square meters along a small stream with babbling water – the natural boundary separating their land from their neighbor's plot.

The strawberries on Mount Cam include both green and yellow varieties, and they bear quite a lot of fruit. Photo: Ngoc Tai — The strawberries on Mount Cam include both green and yellow varieties, and they bear quite a lot of fruit. Photo: *Ngoc Tai*

The fruit season in the mountainous region usually begins at the start of the rainy season. Along the mountain slopes, many traders set up warehouses, collecting and transporting the fruit to large markets throughout the provinces and cities of the Mekong Delta or selling it on the spot to tourists. Wild rambutan, which grows abundantly at the foot of Mount Tô, is harvested by the Khmer people and sold along the roadside for 50,000-60,000 VND per kilogram. Farming in the mountains keeps people busy all year round; after the fruit season, the people turn to harvesting bamboo shoots, tending their gardens, and managing irrigation...

Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of An Hao commune, Tinh Bien town, said that the That Son mountain range covers more than 3,000 hectares, with about 1,000 hectares of fruit trees intercropped with bamboo shoots, and the rest being forest and mixed gardens. The locality is selecting exemplary fruit orchards to guide farmers in opening tourist attractions and experiential activities. A fruit cooperative on the mountain is being prepared to help farmers build brands, increase value, and find stable markets for their products.