Specialty fruits displayed during Tet attract customers

In the days leading up to the Lunar New Year 2025, many specialty fruits are harvested and ready to be brought to the market to serve the Tet market such as watermelon, melon, grapefruit...

Calligraphy engravers decorate watermelons for display during Tet.

To increase their value, these fruits are often decorated with patterns and meaningful New Year wishes to attract consumers.

Watermelon is an indispensable agricultural product during Tet. In Binh Tan district, Vinh Long province, this year's Tet crop, local farmers have planted more than 236 hectares of watermelon, mainly concentrated in Tan An Thanh commune with varieties such as: grafted gourd melon, Red Sun, Thanh Long, seedless melon... In recent days, local farmers have been busy harvesting melons to sell to traders to bring to the Tet market. The average yield is estimated at 40-50 tons/ha. With the selling price at the field ranging from 5,000 - 8,000 VND/kg, farmers earn an average profit of 150 - 200 million VND/ha/crop.

Ms. Ho Thi Ha Em (Tan An Thanh commune, Binh Tan district) said: "My family grows 7,500 m2 of watermelon. This year's Tet watermelon crop, the frosty weather easily burned the leaves, but thanks to my family's careful care, the watermelon field has a high yield. Recently, I sold watermelons at a good price, 1,000 m2 also earned more than 30 million VND, after deducting expenses, there is still a surplus. This year, Tet is more exciting."

As Tet is approaching, watermelons are being busily brought to the market by traders. At Vinh Long market, dozens of watermelon stalls attract customers to buy. This year, watermelons continue to be diverse in types and sizes for consumers to choose to buy for eating or display. In particular, with the types of melons displayed for Tet, there are many ways to decorate the melons to make them more beautiful, adding color to the family during Tet. Currently, at the melon stalls, there are calligraphy drawing and engraving services according to people's requests. In addition to calligraphy art words such as Phuc, Loc, Tho, Van Su, Nhu Y, Chuc Mung New Year... watermelons are also decorated with peach blossoms, apricot blossoms or other diverse details. Depending on the sophistication of the drawing, the completion time can be fast or slow. The cost to draw or engrave a melon ranges from 50,000 - 60,000 VND/melon.

Mr. Nguyen Van Vu (Tan Hanh commune, Long Ho district) said that every year during Tet, he brings melons to the Tet market to sell. This year, he brought more than 4 tons of melons to the market, and has sold about 50% so far. The price of watermelons during Tet has not fluctuated, and the melons on display still attract many customers to come and choose. Unadorned melons usually cost about 20,000 VND/kg, while those with engraved words cost 25,000 VND/kg. Mr. Vu said: "There are all sizes of melons for display to choose from. Nowadays, Vietnamese people like melons with patterns and wishes, so the stall often hires melon carvers. Depending on the needs of customers, the carvers will carve appropriate patterns. Watermelons with engraved words and patterns are not only beautiful but also meaningful in the first days of the new year."

Mr. Le Van Luan (Ward 9, Vinh Long City) shared: "To carve melons, first of all, you must know calligraphy, then it requires talent and meticulousness. Carving melons does not follow a template, each melon will have different lines, depending on the skill of the craftsman. During Tet, carving melons is partly to earn extra income, partly because of passion, to shape the melons to make them more meaningful, to display on the family altar to make Tet more prosperous".

The demand for fruit for the Tet market is quite large, not only must the fruit be of high quality, but the design must also be beautiful to give as gifts or display on the family altar. Grasping that demand, in recent years, many units and gardeners have diversified the types of fruit displayed such as melons and grapefruits.

This year, 620 Agricultural Joint Stock Company supplied about 50 tons of melons to the market. In the last days of the year, workers are busy taking care of and harvesting quality melons to supply the market. For the Tet melon crop, in addition to quality and delicious flavor, consumers are also interested in appearance.

Mr. Huynh Phu Loc - Director of 620 Agricultural Joint Stock Company said that this year the supply of melons has increased compared to previous years. According to the assessment, the market is quite attractive due to the difficulty in producing Tet melons, especially when the cold weather lasts for a long time near Tet, affecting the yield of melons. In addition to focusing on cultivation techniques to have melons of good quality and beautiful appearance, this Tet season the company also hires workers to paint decorations on the melons. The decoration will beautify and increase the meaning of the melons, contributing to increasing the economic value many times over. Up to now, the basic amount of melons has been ordered, just waiting to be delivered to customers, most of which are melons with painted letters, designed with additional packaging and baskets to serve the Tet gift market.

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