Young man Do Dong Tam in Ngoc Trung commune (Ngoc Lac) has successfully applied techniques to make longan hills flower 2-3 months earlier than the main season, becoming one of the few models in the North to do this. Off-season longan brought to the market is not only easy to consume, but also has a price many times higher than the mass market.
Longan hill is affected by off-season crop of Mr. Do Dong Tam.
Seasonally, usually from the end of August to October every year is the time for mass longan harvest across the country. However, from May 25th until now, the longan hill in Minh Lam village, Ngoc Trung commune has been harvested for the second time by Mr. Do Dong Tam. This year, the off-season longan crop continues to be good, and it is expected that after harvesting the entire garden in the third batch, the total output will be 65 tons of fruit.
On this low hill of over 2 hectares, the bustling scene of dozens of hired workers picking and packing styrofoam boxes shows another successful longan crop of the young owner. Every harvest day, there are specialized trucks for longan to be transported to Hanoi and other markets in and outside the province. With nearly 500 ancient longan trees, all are full of heavy fruit clusters thanks to the successful implementation of technical solutions. The longan fruit here is big, round and very sweet.
In addition to being proactive in learning, the garden owner born in 1988 also considers this a chance. Because the family's longan hill planted in 2003 and 2004 also flowers and bears fruit on time like other gardens in the area, but due to good care, it has a higher yield. In 2018, the model was reported by a reporter from VTC16 Channel, then connected to Dr. Dinh Van Thanh - an agricultural expert of VTC16 Channel - to come to the site many times to provide technical support, influencing the longan to bear fruit off-season.
“At first, I was also worried about failure, but with the enthusiastic support of experts, I felt secure. Throughout the process, from the technical impact and fertilization with specialized fertilizers to stimulate flowering and fruit set to the fruit nurturing process, we had to closely monitor and handle the techniques. For example, there was a severe cold spell after the Lunar New Year, so we had to have separate care solutions. During the continuous rain, we had to use more foliar fertilizers and adjust micronutrients to prevent fruit drop. Then, right from the first application in 2019, the longan garden gave unexpected results. Since then, every year has had high yields and good prices,” said Mr. Do Dong Tam.
According to Mr. Tam, although the longan is out of season, the fruit is still round and smooth, the skin is smooth, when peeled, the flesh is dry, and the sugar content is high. The fruit is almost free of pests and diseases and the sweetness is very satisfactory. In cultivation, he has followed the organic process, fertilizing with manure, composting corn, soybeans, and fish to supplement nutrients for the plants. Since 2022, the longan product here has achieved VietGAP certification. In this 2024 crop alone, the price of longan in the garden is maintained at 35 to 40 thousand VND/kg and is not enough to sell to traders and partner companies. On average, each tree produces 1.9 to 3 quintals of fruit, worth nearly 10 million VND. The total income of the whole hill is nearly 2.5 billion VND, after deducting expenses, there is still a profit of about 2 billion VND.
Off-season longan harvest in May 2024 in Ngoc Trung commune.
To work together and have a large enough output to sign contracts with businesses, in 2022, Mr. Do Dong Tam linked up with 12 longan growers in the area to establish Dong Tam Agricultural Services and Seeds Cooperative, of which he is the director. He directly transferred cultivation techniques for off-season longan to help people. Up to now, the models have been successful, creating a large production - consumption linkage area. Also due to the good quality and early harvest, in the past 3 longan crops, some businesses in Hanoi such as Hai Tau Group Joint Stock Company and Minh Bach Food Association (AFT) have signed contracts to purchase most of the products here.
Although he succeeded in agriculture thanks to his dynamism and daring to innovate, Mr. Tam is actually a construction engineer. When he graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Hanoi University of Construction in 2014, the young engineer worked for companies in Hanoi and Thanh Hoa. Realizing that the land in his hometown was vast and had a lot of potential, in 2018 he decided to return to his hometown to start a business to stabilize. His initial "capital" was a hill of fruit trees left by his family, and he learned the knowledge himself.
Looking back at his journey as a construction engineer who switched to agriculture, he still couldn’t believe it: “Earning a profit of more than 2 billion VND per year is a number that I never dared to think of before. Because if the longan garden was left to grow naturally like before, the profit would only reach a few hundred million VND per year.”
Director Do Dong Tam's success not only brings breakthrough income to local longan growers, but is also contributing to changing modern production thinking, adapting well to the consumer market for many fruit growers in the province.
Article and photos: Le Dong
Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/bat-nhan-ra-trai-vu-thu-loi-nhuan-2-ty-dong-moi-nam-217469.htm
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