Visiting the fruit garden of Mr. Le Hong in Hoa Binh village, Vinh Hoa commune, Vinh Linh district, we could feel the will and determination to develop the economy and get rich of an old farmer over 70 years old. Thanks to boldly changing the crop structure, Mr. Hong's fruit garden brings in an income of over hundreds of millions of VND each year.
Mr. Le Hong (left) introduces his family's PQ tangerine garden - Photo: PN
Mr. Hong's family has more than 1.5 hectares of agricultural land, and before 2013, they planted rubber trees. However, he said that at that time, life was still quite difficult and he had no experience in farming, so care was not taken properly, the trees grew slowly, and then natural disasters continuously caused many trees to fall, so the economic efficiency was not high.
By early 2014, when the People's Committee of Vinh Linh district and the People's Committee of Vinh Hoa commune promoted the implementation of the agricultural restructuring project, focusing on converting ineffective crops to other crops with higher economic value, Mr. Hong was one of the pioneers in the locality.
With the active support of the Commune Farmers' Association, he experimented with converting 0.25 hectares of rubber to grow tangerines. To get the best varieties, he traveled all the way to Nghe An - the capital of tangerines to choose from. After researching and visiting many tangerine growing models in Nghia Dan district, he decided to buy 200 PQ tangerine trees to bring back to his hometown to cultivate.
Talking about the reason for choosing the PQ tangerine variety, Mr. Hong explained: “This tangerine variety grows well on the red soil of the Ba Dan district in Nghia Dan district, so I think it will also be suitable for the special conditions of the red soil of the Ba Dan commune in Vinh Hoa. On the other hand, the PQ tangerine variety is less susceptible to pests and diseases, and during the growing process, it does not require much effort in care, fertilization, and does not require too much investment. In particular, the cycle of the tree is long, usually over 10 years, and after 3 years of planting, the first harvest can be harvested; when the fruit is ripe, it stays on the tree longer than other tangerine varieties.”
Thanks to careful research on the characteristics and cultivation process of this tree, right from the first harvest, Mr. Hong's tangerine garden has produced high yields and maintained steady yields in the following harvests. On average, each tree yields 20 - 30 kg of fruit, so with 200 tangerine trees, Mr. Hong harvests 6 - 8 tons of tangerines per crop. Because PQ tangerines are in their main harvest from December of the previous year to February of the following year, coinciding with the time before, during and after the Lunar New Year, they are easy to sell and sell at a good price, with prices in the garden ranging from 15,000 - 17,000 VND/kg.
After deducting expenses, he earns a profit of 60 - 70 million VND per crop. From the efficiency of the tangerine garden, Mr. Hong decided to convert all the remaining rubber land to fruit tree cultivation. However, with the desire to diversify crops and find plants with higher economic value, in addition to PQ tangerines, Mr. Hong also planted other types of fruit such as Thai jackfruit, pear guava, green-skinned grapefruit and oranges.
Currently, his fruit trees have also yielded their first harvests, increasing his family's income. Mr. Hong happily shared that after deducting all expenses, he earns about 120 - 150 million VND per year from his fruit garden.
From Mr. Le Hong’s model, in recent years in Vinh Hoa commune in particular and Vinh Linh district in general, many people have chosen to convert low-quality crops to crops with economic value. In particular, fruit trees are one of the top choices of farmers.
Phuong Nga
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