Tan Yen early ripen lychee: High quality and sold out

It is the harvest season for the early ripen lychee in Tan Yen district, Bac Giang province. The thorough preparation in transport, weighing points and public order security greatly help the tradesmen and farmers to carry out their transaction smoothly with the high selling price.

VietGAP lychee orchard of Ngo Van Anh in Quat Du 2 hamlet, Phuc Hoa commune.

The early ripen lychees are cultivated in some 1,100 hectares, mostly in the communes of Phuc Hoa, Hop Duc, Tan Chung, Lien Son and Cao Thuong in Tan Yen district with an estimated output of over 15,000 tonnes, up 2,000 tonnes of fruits against last year figure. Accompanying the communal staff of agriculture encouragement, we visited Phuc Hoa commune which is known as the locality having the earliest ripen fruit in the district in about 6,000 hectares. The commune is bustled by the selling and buying activities. And the lychee trees on every hill are laden with fruits that are gradually transferred from the green to red color.

For two days, the family of Nguyen Thi Mai Nhi in Phuc Le hamlet has hired 2 – 3 workers to pick the lychee in her 0.5-hectare orchard from the early morning to the late afternoon. The  tradesmen are busy with inspecting, bargaining and buying the fruit. Nhi said: “It is still an annual activity that customers in nationwide come to the district to set up the weighting point or visit the orchard to make the order one week before the harvest season. This year, the early ripen lychee enjoys higher productivity than previous years. Our orchard is estimated at yielding some 7 tonnes, nearly double last crop output.”

Tan Yen, Bac Giang province, early ripen lychee, High quality, sold out, harvest season, high selling price, estimated output, public order security, weighting point, VietGAP caring technique

Tan Yen is home to over 200 hectares growing lychee with VietGAP certificate, mostly in Phuc Hoa commune. The district authority encourages the farmer to maintain the cultivation area, improve the product quality by applying VietGAP caring technique so as to increase the productivity and economic value of 230 – 250 million VND(10,000 – 10,970 USD) per hectare. Ha Van Tuyen, Vice Head of the district Divison of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Hanoi – based tradesmen Nguyen Van Quang completed setting up a weighing point in Phuc Le hamlet and preparing two 15 tonne- trucks to deliver the lychee to the South market. In his opinion, this year fruits are more “eye-catching”, bigger without the stem- worm phenomena and sold at 15 – 17,000 VND (0.66 – 0.75 USD) per kilogram because some enterprises have selected the point and yet to buy the fruit.

Similarly, many businessmen have come to put the weighting points in Hop Duc commune. Particularly, the orchard of early ripen lychee of Nguyen Van Kien in Lo Noi hamlet is burden with fruits. Though many households in the hamlet cut down lychee to grow star fruit apple years ago, Kien still keeps a part of his lychee cultivating area and applies VietGAP production process. Because the trees’ branches are pruned and the fruit trees are provided with appropriate care as the procedure, his orchard enjoy a bumper crop with good quality. 60 lychee trees will be harvested in one more week, yielding some 50 – 60 kilogram per tree.

It started the harvest season of Tan Yen early ripen lychee that will last for about 20 days. Almost all farmers apply VietGAP caring technique, helping improve the fruit quality and mitigate the impact of stem-worm and other diseases as in previous crops.

According to Ha Van Tuyen, Vice Head of the district Divison of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD): “The selling price is estimated to reach 20,000 VND per kilogram (0.88 USD). Chinese markets plan to consume some 6,000 tonnes and the remaining quantity will be sold domestically”.

To date, about 60 weighting points have been set up in Phuc Hoa commune, in which 15 points for export daily buying from 10 – 15 tonnes per points. Recently, the Cultivation and Consumption Cooperative of Phuc Hoa early ripen lychee has made a deal with Hung Thao Import-Export and Trading Company Limited in Luc Ngan district to buy nearly 200 tonnes of fruits.

To facilitate the consumption, the district People’s Committee and communes have reinforced the forces to secure the public order and traffic safety while the district DARD instructs the local staff of agriculture encouragement to guide the farmers the qualified caring and harvesting techniques.