Frost surrounds, Ky Thuong kumquats fall white in the garden

Despite the high fruit set rate, the specialty tangerine trees in Ky Thuong commune still suffered crop failure due to frost.

In the middle of a nearly 3-hectare garden in Tan Tien village (Ky Thuong commune), the tangerine trees of Ms. Le Thi Chien's family now have only bare branches. At the beginning of the season, the trees bore heavy fruit, bringing hope for a bumper crop. However, after only a few natural disasters, frost and early cold, more than half of the family's 2,000 tangerine trees had burnt skin, rotten stems and fallen off.

“Last year my family harvested nearly 3 tons of fruit, earning about 60 million VND. This year, although the fruit set rate is high, the heavy damage due to the continuous stormy weather, along with frost, has resulted in the quantity of tangerines harvested being less than half of last year,” Ms. Le Thi Chien said sadly.

This year, Ms. Le Thi Chien's family only harvested about 1-1.5 tons of tangerines, half the amount compared to last year.

Not only Chien’s family, Nguyen Thi Oanh’s tangerine garden of nearly 3,000 trees (Tan Tien village, Ky Thuong commune) also suffered the same fate. The tangerines bore a lot of fruit, but just a few days after the storm, all the young fruits were damaged, and traders had to cancel their orders.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Oanh shared: “Every year, the garden is full of ripe tangerines, we have to mobilize family members and hire local people to harvest and peel the tangerines to deliver them to traders on time. But this year, many of the fruits are damaged, falling all over the garden.”

Many tangerine areas are affected by frost and natural disasters.

According to households, last year the price of tangerines in the garden was about 20,000 VND/kg. In addition to selling to traders, people also brought them to the market to sell retail. This year, traders came to the garden to order at 25,000 VND/kg, but the gardeners still had no supply. Unable to sell fresh fruit, many households had to collect tangerine peels to dry and sell as medicinal materials at low prices, with insignificant income.

“We look forward to this crop all year, now we can only dry the peels. Each kilo of dried peels earns a few tens of thousands, which is a small recovery. I have never seen a year when both kumquats and kumquats were spoiled like this” - Ms. Tran Thi Lien (Bac Tien village, Ky Thuong commune) shared.

Unable to sell fresh fruit, many households have to collect tangerine peels to dry and sell as medicinal herbs at low prices.

Called Ky Thuong tangerine, but not every area in Ky Thuong can grow delicious tangerines, or if grown, they will be stunted, with no fruit. Only some areas that achieve the factors of soil, water veins... such as Tan Tien, Bac Tien, Tien Vinh, Tien Thuong villages... can produce tangerine gardens of high quality and economic value. In particular, Ky Thuong khop tangerine has long been known as a specialty tangerine variety. As the name suggests - khop tangerine has the characteristic of being larger than normal tangerine, rough skin, concave tail and turning red before ripening.

When not fully ripe, the tangerine has a very sour taste, but when ripe, it will have a rich, sweet, sour and very fragrant taste. The khop tangerine peel is quite thick, contains a lot of essential oils, is valuable in the production of medicinal materials and is popular with people for food processing.

Ky Thuong kumquat is considered a specialty fruit.

Mr. Nguyen Ha Ngoc (Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ky Thuong Commune) said: "The whole commune currently has nearly 20 hectares of specialty tangerines, mainly khop tangerines and kumquat tangerines in the area of Ky Thuong and Ky Son (old). After the recent natural disaster, the locality has coordinated with specialized agencies to guide and encourage people to prune branches, restore orchards, and supplement nutrients to prepare for the next crop."

Despite the heavy damage, the people of Ky Thuong are still determined not to abandon their gardens or trees, because tangerines are not only their main source of income but also a specialty crop that has been with them for generations. The people here still hope that after this harsh frost season, Ky Thuong kumquats and tangerines will soon revive, giving them the same golden fruit seasons as before.