Hanoi farmers grow strange grapefruit variety, not accepting orders due to "sold out"
Báo Dân trí•18/12/2024
(Dan Tri) - Dong Cao village (Me Linh district, Hanoi) is known for growing red grapefruit. In recent years, Dong Cao red grapefruit has been widely used as a gift and on the Tet fruit tray.
At this time, people in Dong Cao village (Trang Viet commune, Me Linh district, Hanoi) are busy harvesting red grapefruit to serve people's needs during Tet 2025. Mr. Nguyen Van Nhat's garden with 8 red grapefruit trees planted among dozens of Dien grapefruit trees is in harvest time to serve Tet 2025. Red grapefruit in the development process is similar to many other grapefruits, when young the fruit is green, until the 7th and 8th lunar months it turns yellow, and after a while it gradually turns red near Lunar New Year, very beautiful. Because it coincides with Lunar New Year, red grapefruit is favored by consumers, always has a high price and there is not enough stock to sell. Mr. Nhat said that taking care of red grapefruit is not too difficult, just need to take care of it in the traditional way, when the grapefruit blooms, you will fertilize with organic fertilizer. The important thing is how to keep the grapefruit beautiful and bright with fruit. Around May, the selected grapefruits are wrapped in paper to avoid insects and external impacts on the skin. It is worth noting that when the grapefruit turns red, the branches become brittle and the stems are easily lost. In Mr. Nhat's red grapefruit garden, some of the original grapefruit trees were marked by experts, and were advised not to cut or graft them, but to keep the trees in their original state. Farmers clearly understand the characteristics of brittle branches and the grapefruit stems that easily fall off when they turn red, so they must be very careful when harvesting or selling them.
Currently, red grapefruit costs about 100,000-150,000 VND/fruit bought at the garden. If the fruit is beautiful, it can cost up to several hundred thousand VND/fruit. Due to the impact of Typhoon Yagi this year, many red grapefruit gardens in areas outside Trang Viet commune were flooded and many died, which partly caused the demand for grapefruit to be limited in the market. Mr. Nhat said: "Red grapefruit has been out of stock in recent years, there is nothing to sell. I, like many households in the village, only dare to supply grapefruit to regular customers, strangers seem to have no goods, many people call but I do not dare to accept." Similarly, the red grapefruit garden of Ms. Nguyen Thi Vien (Dong Cao village, Me Linh district) with about 30 grapefruit trees is also in a state of "shortage" of goods. Ms. Vien said, "During the recent Tet holiday, red grapefruit was in serious shortage. Many customers asked to buy but there was not enough to sell. With the impact of the storm, many trees died, so this year there is likely to be an even greater shortage." On average, each red grapefruit tree in Ms. Vien's house produces 60-70 fruits, and some trees can yield up to 100 fruits. Like last year's grapefruit crop, her family earned more than 100 million VND from selling this type of grapefruit. For the third year, Mr. Cuong has been looking for gardeners in Trang Viet commune to buy red grapefruit for fruit business during Tet. Mr. Cuong said: "Since September, I have started visiting grapefruit gardens. In my opinion, this year's red grapefruit is not as beautiful as previous years due to the impact of storm Yagi. The grapefruit was blown by the wind, had scratches, and many fruits fell, so the purchase price will certainly be higher." Talking to reporters, Mr. Dam Van Thin (Vice Chairman of Trang Viet Commune People's Committee, Me Linh District) shared: "With the viewpoint that 'The economy belongs to the people, grapefruit belongs to the people but must follow the correct technical process', red grapefruit when brought to the market must be natural grapefruit, natural red color, not affected by other chemicals. Up to now, Dong Cao red grapefruit has been recognized as OCOP meeting 4-star standards and supplied to all provinces and cities across the country."
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