Looking back at the 2025 lychee crop: Need to focus on long-term development

BAC NINH - At this time, people in the lychee growing area are entering the final harvest stage, prices remain high. Looking back at the whole season, people are excited because of the high productivity, and the authorities and local governments have many initiatives to promote effective consumption. However, production and consumption practices also reveal limitations, and lessons need to be learned to improve the quality and value of lychee crops in the following seasons.

Record high output

This year, lychee output in the province reached a record high of more than 210 thousand tons, concentrated in key communes and wards such as: Luc Ngan, Deo Gia, Nam Duong, Luc Nam, Lang Giang, Son Hai, Phuc Hoa, Yen The, Chu... In the early stages of the season, when lychee flowers and fruits, there was a long dry spell, but then some "golden" rains appeared along with the gardeners' methodical technical care measures, so the lychee crop was good. In general, the product price is not as high as last year, but gardens cultivated according to VietGAP and GlobalGAP processes still have good prices, bringing joy to growers. Members of the Phi Dien Agricultural Production, Trade and Service Cooperative (Luc Ngan commune) have just finished harvesting more than 20 hectares of lychee. Mr. Phan Van Net, Director of the Cooperative, reported that this crop, people harvested more than 300 tons of fruit. Because the whole product is cultivated according to GlobalGAP process for quality, people and traders order it at a higher price than normal lychee, many batches are consumed in supermarkets and exported.

Livestream content creators sell products at lychee orchards.

Not only marked by high output, the province's lychee also made a strong impression with its presence in demanding markets. In the early lychee area of ​​Phuc Hoa commune, products have been exported to Europe, Japan, and the United States - markets with strict requirements on quality and food safety. Thanks to stable garden purchase prices, people are confident in production and technical investment. Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan's family in Quat Du 2 village has more than 1 hectare of early lychee with the growing area code for export to Europe. The production process is strictly controlled by technical staff and export enterprises, from input materials to product testing before sale. Thanks to that, lychee meets food safety and hygiene standards, building trust with customers. A representative of Mova Plus Joint Stock Company (agricultural product exporter) to Europe said that Phuc Hoa early lychee is popular with consumers because of its sweet taste, moderate sugar content and especially its structure that can be preserved longer than other lychee varieties, thus increasing its competitiveness. This year's lychee crop alone, the Company has successfully exported more than 500 tons to Europe with prices ranging from 300,000 to 350,000 VND/kg. With positive results, the company expects to export about 2,000 tons of early lychee by 2030.

Many unprecedented solutions

In the context of large lychee output, higher than previous crops, this year, the province has also made many innovations in promoting product consumption. That is, bringing products to consume in famous tourist areas of the country such as: Nha Trang, Quy Nhon, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City... In these areas, product introduction booths are arranged in recognizable locations, eye-catching decorations, creating attractive experience spaces in supermarkets. Another notable highlight in the series of lychee promotion activities this year is that for the first time, the province has promoted lychee consumption at enterprises in industrial parks. Accordingly, many enterprises in industrial parks actively responded to buy lychee as gifts, to show gratitude to workers, partners and to include in industrial meals.

Products are supplied to businesses in VSIP Bac Ninh II Industrial Park.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Head of the Provincial Industrial Parks Management Board, the promotion of lychee to enterprises in the industrial park has been actively participated by many units, typically: Welstory Vietnam Limited Liability Company (VSIP Bac Ninh II Industrial Park); Goertek Vina Science and Technology Limited Liability Company (Nam Son-Hap Linh Industrial Park); Foxconn Group (Dinh Tram Industrial Park)... The total lychee consumption reached more than 200 tons. This initial success is the basis for the implementation of the next lychee crops.

Notably, in this lychee crop, for the first time, provincial leaders accompanied content creators to livestream lychee sales. The image of provincial leaders appearing in the role of "agricultural product sellers" quickly attracted attention, creating a positive effect from the online community. In just the first morning, dozens of tons of lychees were ordered through the e-commerce platform. The event helped promote Luc Ngan lychees closer to domestic and foreign consumers. This is also a testament to the innovation in leadership thinking, readiness to join hands with technology to enhance the value of local agricultural products.

Transparent production process

Entering the 2025 lychee crop with a proactive mindset, the province is determined to continue affirming the "lychee" brand in the domestic and international markets. Considering quality as the core factor, deciding the success of production, right from the beginning of the crop, the province has coordinated with specialized agencies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop models of linking production, processing, and consumption of lychee; focusing on improving quality, expanding the area of ​​lychee according to VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards; guiding and advising farmers on lychee cultivation and fertilization techniques; not using banned substances, checking and monitoring the development of emerging and harmful pests and diseases to have timely and effective prevention and control measures. Establishing a working group to direct, guide, supervise, and manage production of growing area codes and packaging facilities; guiding and connecting to create favorable conditions for farmers to sign contracts with businesses and traders; Ensure sufficient output of high-quality lychee for domestic consumption and export to markets in China, the United States, Japan, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, etc.

The province is deploying a new technology platform in the form of a “ledger” to record the entire production process transparently. This is considered an important step to increase reliability and commercial value, expanding the global consumer market.

However, lessons need to be learned from this lychee crop. Although there are about 20,000 hectares of growing areas that meet VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, information management is still limited, and the product list has not been fully updated, making it difficult for customers to access. To improve the situation, the province is implementing a new technology platform in the form of a "ledger" to record the entire production process transparently. This is considered an important step forward to increase reliability and commercial value, and expand the global consumption market. In addition, standardizing lychee varieties is also an urgent issue when there are many different types of lychee on the same bunch. It is necessary to review the varieties and clearly divide the areas for more effective management and development. At the same time, lychee growers need to raise awareness about protecting the soil environment and ecosystem, towards sustainable agricultural development.

In the consumption of lychees, it is necessary to review and arrange weighing points reasonably, as well as manage the registration of traders. In the past, the uneven distribution of weighing points has caused traffic congestion, unintentionally creating pressure on the consumption process. If this stage is organized effectively, the harvesting and harvesting of lychees will be carried out according to plan. In addition, the publicity of purchasing prices is an important factor, requiring local authorities to closely participate to protect the interests of the people and maintain transparency in the market.

Currently, the lychee export market still has great potential but cannot be fully exploited due to some standards on the steaming process and post-harvest preservation. This is a problem that needs to be solved soon to thoroughly open up the markets. Notably, the premise has initially been formed to bring lychee to consumption in industrial zones, opening up a new and promising direction. In the coming seasons, it is necessary to proactively build a more systematic plan, not only to serve workers or traders in the region but also to bring lychee to the country where the enterprise is headquartered in the province.

Some suggestions

To make the next lychee crop more convenient to consume, representatives of some businesses and cooperatives have proposed some ideas. Bac Ninh Newspaper quotes some ideas.

Mr. Dinh Cao Khue, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dong Giao Food Export Joint Stock Company (Ninh Binh):

Land fund for agricultural processing enterprises

Each lychee crop, the Company purchases thousands of tons of fruit at prices higher than the market level to process into concentrated lychee juice. In the coming time, the Company plans to expand production and invest in building a processing factory in Bac Ninh to improve the efficiency of the agricultural value chain. Opening a factory right in Bac Ninh will bring many benefits such as: reducing transportation costs, ensuring the freshness of input materials and better controlling output quality. The company hopes that the locality will support the arrangement of land for lease to build the factory. In order for the production line to operate continuously, the company advocates forming a raw material area right on the spot, not only with lychees but also expanding to potential crops such as pineapple and passion fruit. The Company provides seeds and collects products in the form of consumption at the end of the season for the people. Bac Ninh can completely become a regional agricultural processing center. If this plan is implemented synchronously, not only lychee but also Bac Ninh agricultural products will have the opportunity to enter the global value chain.

Mr. Shin KwangSuk, Deputy General Director of Purchasing Department (Welstory Vietnam Co., Ltd.):

Accompanying in the coming seasons

Welstory Vietnam is a Korean company headquartered in VSIP Bac Ninh II Industrial Park, operating in the field of providing industrial meals, an average of 250,000 meals/day, creating jobs for more than 3,000 workers. Joining hands to consume agricultural products in the area, this year, the Company has included lychee in industrial meals supplied to units and to show gratitude to workers. In fact, the product has received positive feedback from consumers, affirming the great potential in including lychee in large-scale concentrated meals. Welstory hopes to continue to accompany in the following lychee seasons, expand the scale, and contribute to stabilizing output for farmers. To realize that, the company hopes to receive connections from local authorities to reputable garden owners, ensuring the output and quality of input agricultural products. With synchronous support, this initiative can be completely replicated, opening up a new direction for the industrial food industry in connecting with domestic agriculture.

Ms. Vu Thi Tra, representative of Binh Nguyen Clean Agricultural Products Cooperative (Phuong Son ward):

Support and transfer of modern drying technology

The lychee harvest season is short, creating great pressure on consumption. To overcome this, for many years, people in specialized growing areas have dried lychees, contributing to prolonging the preservation time, expanding the consumption channel, and increasing economic value. In addition to traditional markets such as China, dried lychees are also favored by European consumers thanks to their unique flavor. The market potential for dried lychees is very open, not only consumed in their original form, this product can also become raw materials for processing other food lines such as lychee tea, confectionery, jam and nutritional drinks. This contributes to stabilizing prices, limiting the situation of "good harvest, low price", and at the same time opening up a direction for sustainable development for the local agricultural sector. However, the major obstacle today is that the lychee drying process has not been standardized. Therefore, it is necessary for the State to participate in investing, supporting and transferring modern drying technology.

TRUONG SON (recorded)

Article and photos: Trinh Lan

Source: https://baobacninhtv.vn/nhin-lai-vu-vai-thieu-nam-2025-can-tap-trung-cho-phat-trien-dai-han-postid421781.bbg