Planting purple-flowered lemon trees produces fruit all year round.

BBK - By grasping market demand and shifting their farming structure to a model of growing purple-flowered lemon trees, the family of Mr. Hoang Van Hien, in Nam Doi Than village, Nong Thuong commune (Bac Kan city), earns several hundred million dong per year.

Leading us on a tour of his orchard laden with lemons, Mr. Hien shared his story of how he came to lemon cultivation: “I started my business trading apricots. When I saw the economic value of apricot trees, I bought land and planted over 2 hectares of apricot trees. However, around 1996, apricot prices dropped, so I switched to apricot processing. The area planted with apricots was replaced with 400 seedless persimmon trees. But because the fruit setting rate of seedless persimmons was not high despite much care, in 2016 I experimented with planting 60 purple-flowered lemon trees originating from Da Lat.”

Planting purple-flowered lemon trees for year-round fruiting (image 1)

Mr. Hoang Van Hien stands beside his purple-flowered lemon tree, which has produced many harvests of fruit.

Based on his self-taught experience, Mr. Hien initially focused on cultivating the trees for grafting and propagation rather than selling the fruit. From an initial 60 lemon trees, he has now developed 1,000 trees of various ages, providing a stable income for the past three years. The average yield is 70-80 tons of fruit per year, with prices ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 VND per kilogram, depending on the time of year. The lemons are mainly sold in Ninh Binh , Thai Nguyen, and Bac Kan provinces. The purple-flowered lemon trees bear fruit year-round, resulting in higher economic value compared to many other crops, and the market demand remains quite stable.

Thanks to the application of technological advancements and production experience, Mr. Hien's family's purple-flowered lemon orchard is thriving, with a wide canopy and abundant fruit. Mr. Hien shared: "The outstanding advantages of purple-flowered lemons are their short harvest time, high yield and production, and stable selling price. However, these trees require meticulous care, technical knowledge, and investment in appropriate fertilizers and pesticides at the right amount and time; otherwise, the trees will have many flowers but little fruit."

Planting purple-flowered lemon trees for year-round fruit (image 2)

The rows of lemon trees laden with fruit are a beautiful spot for taking photos and enjoying the scenery.

Lemon trees provide a stable yield for about ten years. To maintain and increase productivity, at the end of 2022, Mr. Hien decided to graft purple-flowered lemons onto 150 six-year-old pomelo trees. According to Mr. Hien, pomelo trees have a long lifespan, strong root systems, and many branches, so grafting lemons on them results in a much higher yield, increasing their economic value.

Along with developing the model of growing purple-flowered lemons, Mr. Hien also buys and processes fresh apricots, with an annual output of about 200-300 tons of fruit. Thanks to this, during the peak season, he creates jobs for more than 30 seasonal workers with an income of nearly 10 million VND/month; and maintains stable employment for 5 workers, with an income of 6-7 million VND/person/month.

Based on the initial success of the purple-flowered lemon tree, Mr. Hien continued to expand the planting area, replacing the old, low-yielding apricot trees. Mr. Hien's boldness and willingness to think outside the box have yielded good results, making this an economic development model worth emulating and learning from.

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