Longan gardens bear fruit all year round, attracting visitors to the garden.

Not only successfully planting longan trees on hilly land, Mr. Do Thanh Tai - Mrs. Hoang Thi Hoa (Tay Thuan commune, Tay Son district) or Mr. Le Dang Duong (Canh Thuan commune, Van Canh district) also applied good techniques to make longan trees bear fruit all year round; turning the barren land into a cool green garden, full of fruit, attracting many people to visit and buy fruit, initially bringing income to the family.

Doing business at this age is rare.

In 2019, although he was nearly 70 years old, when his son bought a piece of land and intended to grow fruit trees, Mr. Tai and Mrs. Hoa packed their bags from Nam Dinh to Tay Son, determined to work with their son to do business in a new direction.

Ms. Hoa said that her son works as a well driller so he travels all over the place, and the gardening work is mainly done by her grandparents. The current garden land was previously mainly used to grow acacia trees, so it was infertile, and the family had to spend a lot of effort to renovate it. After renovating 2 hectares of land, her grandparents planted thousands of fruit trees including: custard apple, coconut, banana, jackfruit, grapefruit, orange..., especially over 800 longan trees.

In the fourth year, the longan tree began to bear its first fruit, with bunches of longan hanging from the branches. “In the early days of selling longan at the markets in Tay Son, many people heard my voice and heard that these longan were grown right on their land, but no one believed it,” Ms. Hoa said with a laugh.

To keep the tree bearing fruit all year round, Ms. Hoa's family uses the "water squeezing" technique, forcing the longan tree to bear fruit many times a year, both taking advantage of family labor and avoiding the situation of "overloading the market" when not consumed in time, the fruit has a richer sweetness.

Currently, the large garden, full of longan and other fruits of her family, attracts many local people to visit and buy fruit. Ms. Phan Chien Lac, in Thuong Son village, Tay Thuan commune, said, when coming to the garden, we can visit and enjoy longan for free; we can personally choose and cut the bunches of longan we like to buy.

“People recommend each other, especially through social media, making my orchard more widely known. Now, people come to buy longan every day. There are days when my family cuts continuously from morning to night and still can’t keep up,” Ms. Hoa happily said.

In addition to longan, other trees such as coconut, banana, and custard apple have also been harvested, initially bringing in a good income for the family. Mr. Nguyen Trung Tin, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Tay Thuan Commune, said: This is the first large-scale and diverse fruit tree planting model implemented effectively in the locality, opening up prospects for agricultural development in the commune, especially for longan trees. In the coming time, the Association will deploy for households to visit, learn, and replicate this model, contributing to improving degraded land, increasing the value of products on the same land area, and increasing income for farmers.

Ms. Hoang Thi Hoa (Tay Thuan commune, Tay Son district) cuts longan for customers. Photo: DINH NGOC

Longan garden full of fruit on barren land

After 4 years of persistently improving the soil and taking care of the longan garden of Mr. Le Dang Duong (29 years old, from Dak Lak province), the longan garden is now green, full of fruit, and entering the harvest season. Decades ago, Mr. Duong's family moved from Hung Yen to the Central Highlands to start a business. After his parents succeeded with longan trees grown in Cu Kuin district (Dak Lak province), 5 years ago, Mr. Duong set foot in Binh Dinh with the desire to bring Huong Chi longan - a famous specialty of Hung Yen longan "barn" - to conquer new lands.

In 2021, Mr. Duong rented 1.5 hectares of hilly land in Ka Bung village (Canh Thuan commune), renovating the barren land, which lacked water, especially in the dry season. After much effort, in 2024, 750 Huong Chi longan trees yielded the first harvest with a yield of 4 tons, earning 100 million VND in revenue. "This longan variety has the advantage of bearing many fruits and being able to control the flowering time. This year, if there is no unfavorable weather, the longan garden can reach a yield of 15 tons," Mr. Duong shared.

In early April, many people in Van Canh district could not resist their curiosity and invited each other to visit the longan garden. There were weeks when the garden welcomed more than 1,000 visitors, the busiest being on the weekends. Visitors could freely walk around, take photos, try longan and personally pick bunches of longan from the trees to buy and take home.

Wishing to develop longan trees locally, Mr. Duong also propagates them to provide to households in need. Currently, he is supporting knowledge and experience for a household in Ha Luy village (Canh Thuan commune) in planting and caring for longan trees.

Mr. Tran Minh Toan - Party Secretary, Chairman of Canh Thuan Commune People's Committee, acknowledged that Mr. Duong's longan garden is the result of applying science and technology to cultivation. This is also a model for people to refer to and learn from, and at the same time, it suggests new directions for the locality in diversifying crops and improving cultivation efficiency for infertile production lands.

DINH NGOC - NGUYEN CHON

Source: https://baobinhdinh.vn/viewer.aspx?macm=5&macmp=5&mabb=355117