Phu Van is likened to a small peninsula surrounded by rivers, famous for its ornamental flower growing. Phu Van flowers bloom all year round, creating splendid colors for this land. Especially, every time Tet comes, flower growers are busy in the fields, preparing shipments of flowers to the city, to every family to celebrate Tet and welcome spring.
Wake up with flowers...
The images of the flower village at night captured by the equipment from above look like a colorful lacquer painting. Coming to the place, right on the riverside of the people of village 5, Phu Van commune, we can see the busy yet poetic life of the people. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Yen, wearing a hat tilted to shield herself from the sun, stood pruning the buds to nourish the Golden Winter chrysanthemum. This is a chrysanthemum garden planted for Tet, with green leaves, lush branches, and budding and blooming. The work does not seem to be hard, but it is a very important step in flower care.
Ms. Yen said: “This flower was planted in August after buying the sprouts from Nam Dinh. This year, the weather was favorable, and every plant that was planted grew well. Now I can believe that 99% of the flowers are edible!”
Chrysanthemum is one of the most grown flowers in Phu Van. After many years of growing and selling flowers, people have enough experience to know what to grow and what to sell. Golden Winter Chrysanthemum and Crystal Chrysanthemum are still the main ones. Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen said: "If the weather is like this, it will be "good", otherwise the planned time will be missed, because it is too cold and many gardens will not be "ready for Tet".
The flower beds that are lit up every night on the other side are the intercrop gardens. Those flowers are planted for the full moon of January. Mr. Le Duc An, Director of Phu Van Ornamental Plant Ecotourism Cooperative, shared: “This flower field is lit up every winter night, making Phu Van land look like a sparkling lacquer painting. But during the day, the flower fields are bustling with farmers’ footsteps. Each type of flower requires different care, but it is much less difficult than before.”
Why it is less difficult, Mr. Le Duc An explained, is because people now know how to apply technical advances and science and technology to production. From watering systems for flowers to investing in buying bed-making machines and fertilizer machines. Thanks to that, the labor force is reduced but productivity is increased.
Mr. An said: “Phu Van farmers are still persistent with traditional flower varieties for Tet such as peach, kumquat, chrysanthemum, rose, lily, etc. In addition, high-tech flowers are imported through exchange and cooperation with gardeners in Da Lat, Moc Chau, Hanoi, etc. They are grown in greenhouses and sold at Phu Van high-tech flower company. According to forecasts, this year the consumption of high-tech flowers will still focus mainly on orchids...”
The flower growing area of the whole commune this year increased by about 15-17%, the income of the people is expected to increase by about 15%. Currently, the whole commune has 165.25 hectares of flowers and ornamental plants, the largest growing area is still concentrated in village 5.
People worry "flowers laugh, people cry"
Mr. Nguyen Van Kien's house in village 5 is one of the households with the largest area for growing ornamental flowers. Mr. Kien's flower garden mainly grows peach, kumquat, rose, and chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemum is not difficult to grow, and the ninth lunar month is the time when farmers have to bring the seedlings home to plant in the ground in time for Tet flowers. However, compared to other types of flowers, chrysanthemum seeds are more expensive. When harvesting, there must be a greenhouse and a cold room to preserve the flowers for customers. Therefore, investing in each sao of chrysanthemum costs from 30 to 40 million VND for various expenses. Meanwhile, a sao of chrysanthemum only costs about 20 to 30 million VND. The costs for growing flowers are mainly calculated as seeds, water, fertilizer, electricity, and labor costs from 250,000 VND to 300,000 VND/person/day.
The way of thinking about growing ornamental flowers of Phu Van people is much different from before, people pay more attention to the design and form. For example, ornamental flowers such as peach and kumquat are now following the trend of growing bonsai, or putting them in pots, pruning them to produce flowers according to different designs, conveying messages of life and people's dreams. Single flowers used to be just a few basic colors, but now there are many colors and types, meeting the needs of flower lovers.
Mr. Dang Van Phuc, village 6 Phu Van, is also a household that has grown many single flowers in Phu Van for many years. He said: "Flower growers themselves must try to follow market demand. Don't be too conservative and waste land and effort. If you like flowers but buyers don't like them, then growing flowers is useless!"
There are many things to worry about, but the biggest worry of Phu Van flower growers right now is how to sell all their flowers at a good price for Tet. As the owner of a large peach garden in village 6, Dang Van Suot, said: “Hard work is the nature of farming, but I just hope that this year there won’t be a situation where “the flowers laugh and the people cry”. Flower growers not only look forward to the weather but also to the lives of their customers. In recent years, due to the pandemic, people’s economy has been quite difficult, and spending for Tet has also been more cautious. Therefore, flower growers are often worried if by the 15th of December no one has come to the garden to choose trees.”
According to the report of Phu Van Commune People's Committee, the commune's large flower garden in 2023 will bring in an income of 1 billion VND per hectare. Phu Van flower growers look forward to Tet as just a corner of life, the story of making flowers all year round is the job, the career, the life of each family. Tet is approaching, from Phu Van land, flowers begin to bloom with buds of hope.
Jiangnan
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