How to recover?

Long My town in particular and Hau Giang in general are hoping to restore the Long Tri tangerine area, one of the province's famous specialties. Starting with the restoration, propagation of disease-free varieties and sustainable development of this tree.

Research on restoring Long Tri tangerine variety is one of the directions of great interest.

Famous specialties are still famous today, but...

Long Tri tangerine is a famous specialty of Long My town in particular and Hau Giang in general. In the late 20th century, Long Tri tangerine developed strongly and became the main crop in Long Tri and Long Tri A communes today. In the "golden age", Long My town had nearly 300 hectares of land growing tangerine. With its delicious flavor, this type of tree is favored by the market and brings a good income to many families.

In recent times, the Long Tri tangerine brand has received attention and protection from the province. In 2014, the province successfully built the collective brand "Long Tri tangerine". In order to manage and sustainably develop this specialty brand, from 2019 to 2022, the province implemented the project "Management and development of the collective brand "Long Tri tangerine" for tangerine products of Hau Giang province".

However, since the beginning of the 21st century, the cultivation of Long Tri tangerines has gradually encountered many difficulties due to rising water levels and the attack of green vein yellowing disease. Many tangerine-growing households have had to switch to other crops such as durian, green-skinned grapefruit, mangosteen, super early Thai jackfruit, etc. According to statistics, currently, the entire town of Long My has only about 4 hectares of land left for growing tangerines. Of which, about 0.5 hectares are bearing fruit, however, some gardens are now degraded.

According to Mr. Huynh Ngoc Truong, Vice Chairman of Long My Town People's Committee: "The Long Tri tangerine brand has existed for many years. Given the current situation, we wish to combine efforts to restore this tree. We have about 20 hectares of land of farmers who are ready to replant tangerines. If the planting is of high quality, we will expand it to other households and neighboring areas to maintain the tangerine brand and have good products to sell on the market."

Recovery expectations

As one of the few farmers still growing tangerines in the locality, Mr. Doan Van Phi, in Hamlet 8, Long Tri Commune, still has a lot of faith in the recovery ability of this tree. In his 0.3-hectare garden, Mr. Phi is growing about 400 tangerine trees. “Previously, when I planted tangerines, many of them were damaged and had to be abandoned. But after replanting, I paid attention to the technique and treated them with fertilizers and pesticides, so I found it easy. In this area, if you have good seedlings and know how to apply the technique, you can still grow tangerines,” Mr. Phi shared.

Currently, the problem of flooding has been basically controlled when Long My town paid attention and invested in building a closed dyke in the locality. However, the situation of infected tangerine trees still occurs. This is the main reason why many farmers are afraid when planning to replant this tree. Therefore, creating disease-free tree varieties to provide to people is extremely necessary at the present stage.

With the expectation of restoring Long Tri tangerine in Long My town in particular and Hau Giang in general, recently, the working group of the Southern Fruit Institute, together with the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the province, conducted a field survey and worked with the People's Committee of Long My town. Grasping the current situation of tangerine cultivation, the ability to recover and the needs of the locality. From there, there will be specific directions to implement topics and projects to restore and sustainably develop this type of tree.

Dr. Vo Huu Thoai, Director of the Southern Fruit Institute, said: “The Institute has a lot of experience in breeding varieties, especially perennial fruit varieties. With Long Tri tangerine, we have two proposals. First, we will restore the variety to its original quality. From that tangerine variety, we will research and breed new tangerine varieties with a typical brand for Hau Giang.”

It is expected that in the coming time, through the cooperation with the Southern Fruit Institute and other agencies, units and enterprises, Long Tri tangerines will be restored and developed sustainably. Thereby, bringing economic value and contributing to bringing Hau Giang agricultural products brand to the market.

Article and photos: DANG THU

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