Son La builds fruit growing areas

In recent years, from the policy of restructuring the agricultural sector, Son La province has gradually planned and formed concentrated fruit growing areas, associated with processing and export industries.

Many plum growers in Son La livestream to introduce their products right in their gardens.

Currently, the orientation of building and developing fruit growing areas is becoming an important pillar in the province's sustainable agricultural development strategy.

Since 2015, the Provincial Party Standing Committee has identified growing fruit trees on sloping land as a breakthrough in agricultural and forestry economics , both increasing production value and creating livelihoods for farmers, gradually reducing the area of ​​low-efficiency food crops.

Thematic resolutions from supporting cooperatives, renovating mixed gardens, to developing Son La's agricultural processing industry all closely follow this orientation. Up to now, the province has reviewed, registered, converted, and replanted more than 85,000 hectares of sloping land for growing food crops and low-efficiency industrial crops to growing fruit trees and hawthorn trees, an increase of 219% in area and 332% in output compared to 2016. Son La has 59 OCOP products produced, processed from fruits and exported abroad.

The province has 560 factories and agricultural processing facilities, including 17 factories... Despite many positive results, the fruit growing area of ​​the province still faces many difficulties, such as uneven quality of raw materials, fragmented production, and loose chain linkages. The rate of agricultural products put into processing is still low, only reaching less than 10%, most of which are still consumed fresh, depending on traders.

In addition, preservation and deep processing technology is not adequate; logistics infrastructure, cold storage, and traffic connections are still limited. The application of science and technology and mechanization in cultivation and harvesting is still not popular, leading to unstable productivity and product quality. The situation of "good harvest, low price" still occurs in some types of fruit due to poor market forecasting and lack of synchronization in planning raw material areas...

Faced with the above difficulties, Son La is focusing on implementing many strategic solutions to build concentrated, sustainable fruit growing areas, applying high technology, linked to processing industry and consumption market; focusing on planning specialized areas, linked to processing industry.

Accordingly, by the end of 2025, 10 high-tech fruit growing areas will be formed, including: Mango, longan, plum, custard-apple and citrus trees... These areas will be invested in infrastructure, synchronously applying VietGAP, GlobalGAP processes, moving towards organic agriculture, creating stable raw materials for processing factories. Mr. Vu Tien Dinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, said: The province is continuing to review the planning of industrial parks and clusters in Mai Son, Van Ho communes and other communes, prioritizing land allocation for projects on processing, preserving and packaging agricultural products, gradually reducing the situation of "surplus of seasonal raw materials".

Son La is interested in producing seasonal and off-season fruit varieties such as mango, longan, orange, plum, pineapple, etc. to ensure year-round supply, avoiding congestion in the main season. The target by the end of 2025 is that the area of ​​seasonal fruit trees will reach 8,000 hectares, with an output of about 85,000 tons. The province is also focusing on shifting from the "supply chain" model to the "industry value chain" model; in which the linkage between farmers and enterprises is considered the core. Cooperatives and enterprises play an intermediary role in organizing production according to contracts, linked to domestic and foreign distribution systems.

The province aims to manage production according to the growing area code of about 15,000 hectares of fruit trees by the end of 2025, qualified for export to demanding markets such as the US, EU, Australia, Japan, China... At the same time, continue to build and protect brands and geographical indications for specialty fruits such as Song Ma longan, Yen Chau mango, Moc Chau plum, Phu Yen orange; focus on promoting processing and logistics industry; develop ecological and organic agricultural models, combined with tourism; train human resources, enhance science and technology...

With a vision to 2030, Son La aims to build large-scale, sustainable fruit growing areas with an output of millions of tons, becoming the leading fruit and vegetable processing and export center in the country. Key products such as mango, longan, plum, passion fruit, pineapple, and citrus will continue to receive synchronous investment from production to processing and consumption. Accordingly, the province clearly identifies that it must always adhere to the viewpoint of "Sustainable development, harmonizing economic benefits with environmental protection, improving people's lives, contributing to building new rural areas and ensuring border security".

Article and photos: QUOC TUAN

Source: https://nhandan.vn/son-la-xay-dung-vung-trong-cay-an-qua-post906236.html