Gardeners have difficulty in fruit treatment

Gardener Duong Thi Thi had difficulty handling Cat Chu mangoes that were not up to standard for sale during Tet, so she had to harvest and sell them after Tet.

Tra Vinh has strengths in the area of 03 Tet fruit products: grapefruit, mango and tangerine concentrated in Cau Ke, Tieu Can, Chau Thanh and Cang Long districts. Of these, the total mango area is nearly 1,587 hectares (mainly Taiwanese mango, accounting for over 90% of the area, Cat Chu and Cat Hoa Loc mangoes account for about 10% of the area); over 2,000 hectares of Nam Roi grapefruit and green-skin grapefruit and nearly 400 hectares of tangerine.

Recorded in the key fruit growing area in Cau Ke district; with nearly 600ha of mango growing area, of which Hoa Tan commune has over 400ha of mango distributed in An Loc, An Binh and Hoi An hamlets; along with over 500ha of green-skinned grapefruit, concentrated in Ninh Thoi, An Phu Tan, Tam Ngai, Hoa An communes... The output of Tet fruit is often processed by gardeners and the yield accounts for about 30 - 35% of the total output of the year.

Gardener Duong Thi Thi, An Binh Hamlet, Hoa Tan Commune said: her family grows 0.3 hectares of Cat Chu mango (about 70 trees); the selling price of mangoes for Tet 2023 is quite stable (23,000 VND/kg). As for the 2024 Tet mango crop, due to unsuccessful treatment of flowers to stimulate fruit set, of which over 90% of gardeners treated the mangoes for Tet sale without flowering, the reason being that this year's weather has caused a lot of rain. To have mangoes to sell for Tet, at this time (November 15th lunar month), the mangoes must have fruit the size of a chicken egg; however, most of the mango gardens in Hoa Tan are currently in the flowering stage, so the fruit season will last after Tet.

Gardener To Van Le, Dong Dien hamlet, Ninh Thoi commune, Cau Ke district said: because in recent years, the price of grapefruit has dropped sharply, sometimes only 13,000 - 15,000 VND/kg (grapefruit from 1.2 kg or more). Therefore, many gardeners do not invest much in caring for their grapefruit gardens. This affects the growth of the trees, does not ensure enough nutrients for recovery, leading to difficulties in handling grapefruit to produce fruit for sale during Tet.

To Van Le gardener takes care of and manages green-skinned grapefruit to supply the 2024 Tet market.

According to gardener To Van Le, his family currently has about 100 green-skinned grapefruit trees, and the family's output of this year's Tet grapefruit crop is about 350 - 400 kg, accounting for about 20% of the annual fruit output. With the price of green-skinned grapefruit, traders must buy at the garden (buy in bulk) from 20,000 VND/kg or more, only then will gardeners dare to invest in care and grapefruit growers will have economic efficiency.

In addition, for tangerine trees, they are mainly grown in Binh Phu commune, Cang Long district with over 30 hectares. Due to the characteristics of tangerines, when the time falls on a leap year, tangerines often bear fruit 1.5 - 02 months earlier. Every year, the tangerine output in Binh Phu supplies the market with about 160 - 200 tons of fruit, the selling price ranges from 30,000 - 35,000 VND/kg of tangerines.

Ms. Phan Thuy Nga, Director of Thuan Phu Tangerine Cooperative (Binh Phu Commune, Cang Long District) said: This year's Tet tangerine crop will decrease significantly compared to 2023. It is expected that the output of tangerines sold during Tet will account for about 7 - 10% of the year's tangerine output. Regarding the selling price, it is expected that this year, the price of Tet tangerines will be higher than in 2023 by 5,000 - 7,000 VND/kg; due to the decrease in tangerine output and the tangerine cultivation process of gardeners in Binh Phu is carried out in accordance with VietGAP. From there, the quality and appearance of tangerines are guaranteed and stable.

Article and photos: HUU HUE

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