Organic longan is delicious, beautiful and has a high price.

SOC TRANG Thanks to the conversion to organic farming, Vinh Chau longan has good quality fruit, beautiful appearance, stable market, and a selling price 10,000 - 15,000 VND/kg higher than other types of longan.

Vinh Chau longan has good quality fruit, beautiful outer skin, and is very popular in the market. Photo: Kim Anh.

Vinh Chau town is not a locality with a large area of ​​​​yellow longan in Soc Trang province. However, over the years, the Vinh Chau longan brand has become famous.

Vinh Chau longan has thick, slightly yellow flesh, thin skin, little water, sweet taste, strong aroma, so it is very popular in the market.

Traveling nearly 100km, reporters from the Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper arrived in Vinh Chau town. Although there were a few early rains in May, they were not enough to ease the intense heat in this sandy land.

We decided to visit Mr. Ly Huu Thanh’s longan garden in Bien Tren hamlet, Vinh Phuoc ward. The longan garden has a large area but there is absolutely no grass under the tree roots and no fallen longan leaves on the ground. The entire garden has been cleaned by the garden owner so it looks very airy.

Mr. Thanh confided that he has been involved in growing longan for decades. Previously, he planted cowhide longan in his entire 2-hectare garden, but the fruit yield was not high and the selling price was low.

Realizing that the economic efficiency was not as expected, Mr. Thanh decided to switch to growing yellow longan. After more than 15 years, the yellow longan tree took root on this land, and the family's income also improved day by day.

With prices ranging from 25,000 - 65,000 VND/kg (depending on the time), farmers growing longan in Vinh Chau have a stable income. Photo: Kim Anh.

Every year, the fruit yield is about 40 tons/crop, with a selling price of 25,000 - 65,000 VND/kg (depending on the time). After deducting all expenses, his family has a profit of more than 400 million VND.

According to Mr. Thanh, to achieve good quality longan, he chose organic farming methods, combined with processing for off-season fruit. Around October (lunar calendar) last year, he processed the longan to flower, and in February of the following year the longan began to be harvested and lasted until April. At this time, the selling price of longan is usually high, from 50,000 - 70,000 VND/kg.

In the 2024 longan crop season, Mr. Thanh is taking care of the garden and processing flowering, of which some trees in the garden have been harvested and have fruit for sale.

In the future, Mr. Huu Thanh will expand 1 hectare of organic longan cultivation to increase fruit quality and ensure supply to meet market demand.

About 2km from Mr. Thanh's garden, Mr. Duong Van Buoi also enthusiastically invited us to visit the longan garden behind his house. Quickly walking to each large longan tree that was blooming white flowers all over the garden, Mr. Buoi searched for bunches of ripe longan to invite guests to taste the deliciousness of organically grown longan.

Mr. Buoi said that in the past, traditional longan cultivation did not bring about the quality and unique flavor of local longan fruit. With the guidance of the industry experts, he switched to growing longan according to VietGAP process, then moved towards organic and now grows according to organic process.

With only 1 hectare, his family's longan garden yields about 20 tons of fruit per year. With a selling price of 30,000 - 65,000 VND/kg, minus investment costs, the profit is about 200 million VND/year. Mr. Buoi assessed that compared to many other crops, longan trees have higher profits and more stable output.

Currently, many Vinh Chau longan gardens have focused on organic farming. Photo: Kim Anh.

Currently, Vinh Chau town has over 300 hectares of longan, of which nearly 290 hectares are yellow-fleshed longan, mainly concentrated in Vinh Tan and Lai Hoa communes and Vinh Phuoc ward, ward 1 and ward 2.

Mr. Ma Chi Tho, Head of the Economic Department of Vinh Chau town, assessed that the yellow rice boat longan is the main crop of the locality. Thanks to favorable soil conditions, this coastal sandy land creates many advantages for longan trees to grow. In particular, the organic longan growing method helps improve the quality and appearance of the fruit.

“In the coming time, the Town’s professional sector will mobilize people to increase the area, consolidate and establish cooperatives and longan cooperatives. At the same time, implement the organic longan growing model and expand it to localities throughout the Town. Encourage gardeners to increase the use of organic fertilizers and biological products to improve fruit quality, helping longan trees grow well,” Mr. Tho shared.

According to the Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection of Soc Trang province, Vinh Chau longan now has a brand name, so its selling price is 10,000 - 15,000 VND/kg higher than the same type of longan from other localities.

In recent times, in order to support the development of Vinh Chau longan, the Department has supported many gardeners in the area to convert ineffective gardens to grow longan. At the same time, it has supported planting new longan gardens, building automatic irrigation systems, providing guidance on cultivation techniques and handling off-season longan.

On the other hand, the unit is also supporting Vinh Chau town to build a growing area code for longan trees, along with finding businesses to link up to consume Vinh Chau longan.

Source: https://nongsanviet.nongnghiep.vn/nhan-xuong-huu-co-vua-ngon-vua-dep-gia-cao-d386649.html