With more than 30 years of experience in growing yellow apricot flowers, Mr. Cao Quan Boi (68 years old) in Ben Keo hamlet said that to serve the Tet flower market this year, he has prepared 300 potted apricot trees on an area of 1,000 m2. garden soil
Mr. Cao Quan Boi's apricot garden.
With his experience, for over a month now, Mr. Boi has been actively taking care of the tree, pruning the branches, and performing steps to help the apricot tree produce many buds, beautiful flowers, and bloom right on time for Tet.
According to Mr. Boi, due to the unfavorable weather this year, the prolonged cold air has caused the apricot trees to grow unstably, causing difficulties for apricot growers, requiring gardeners to regularly monitor and take care of the apricot garden more carefully.
Mr. Cao Quan Boi picks apricot leaves in the garden.
As usual every year, on the 15th of December, the atmosphere of picking apricot leaves in Mr. Boi's garden as well as the surrounding apricot growers becomes more bustling. Families with dozens of apricot trees do the work together, while families with hundreds of apricot trees like Mr. Boi have to hire workers to pick the leaves so that the apricot trees can bloom in time for Tet.
This job of picking mai leaves also creates additional income for many workers at the end of the year. Mr. Pham Trung Hieu, residing in Ben Keo hamlet, said that these days, he and many brothers, aunts, and uncles in the hamlet pick mai leaves for hire for garden owners in the area, with a salary of 300,000 VND/day.
Although the work is quite tiring because we have to work in the hot fields all the time, everyone is happy because they have extra income to help their families during Tet.
People who pick yellow apricot leaves for hire earn about 300,000 VND/day.
According to many apricot growers in Ben Keo hamlet, in general, the price of apricot this year is not the same as last year due to abundant supply, so farmers' profits will decrease.
Mr. Cao Quan Boi said that with 300 mai trees in his garden, on average each mai pot he sells has the lowest price from 700,000 to 800,000 VND, some are 1-2 million VND/pot, or 20 million to 40 million VND/pot, the price also depends on the size of the mai tree, the beauty or ugliness of the mai tree.
This year, Mr. Boi's apricot garden has had traders from Hanoi and Hai Phong come to order 150 apricot pots to sell.
Mr. Pham Trung Hieu earns extra income from picking mai leaves every year.
“If we calculate the profit, this year has decreased a lot compared to previous years. If in 2024 with these 300 apricot trees, I would have earned about hundreds of millions of VND, but this year the profit is only about 30-40 million VND,” Mr. Boi shared.
According to Mr. Tran Minh Man - Vice Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Long Thanh Nam commune, there are 61 farmer households growing apricot flowers in 5 hamlets in the commune. Of which, Ben Keo hamlet and Long Yen hamlet are the 2 hamlets with the largest number of households growing apricot flowers.
Since 2018, the commune has established the Ben Keo yellow apricot agricultural service cooperative to create conditions for farmers to develop the local apricot growing industry.
Currently, the Cooperative has 23 members. By joining the cooperative, members can meet, exchange and share experiences in apricot growing techniques. Over the period of operation, many farming households have escaped poverty thanks to apricot trees, many households have a fairly stable economy, thereby actively contributing to the construction of new rural communes in the locality.
In addition, to support apricot farmers, recently, the Commune Farmers’ Association has coordinated with agencies and units to organize training sessions, instructing farmers on how to prevent and treat diseases on apricot trees, helping apricot trees grow well. In addition, the Association also supports members in accessing bank loans to invest in developing apricot gardens.
Recently, the Association has disbursed the Farmers Support Fund from local capital to 16 households, each borrowing about 30 million VND, thereby helping members have capital to invest in taking care of apricot gardens, serving the flower market for the Lunar New Year of At Ty in 2025.
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