Thanh Tra garden, a specialty fruit in Hue city, looking up, you can see sparse fruit, some trees are all leaves, a poor harvest.

The owner of a pomelo growing household in Luong Quan village, Thuy Bieu ward (Hue city, Thua Thien Hue province) Vo Tran Tuan Kiet could not hide his sadness when this pomelo crop lost its productivity, with an unprecedentedly large output.

Living along the Huong River for many years, Mr. Kiet's family's life mainly depends on the pomelo garden. All living expenses, children's education, and house building come from the income accumulated from the pomelo harvest.

Mr. Kiet’s family has rarely had a bad harvest of more than 100 pomelo trees. There have been bad harvests, but not to the extent of a near total loss like this pomelo crop.

His family, like many households, grows 100 trees or more, and many crops yield 3-5 tons of commercial fruit. In 2023 alone, many households harvested an average of 3 tons/100 trees. However, this year's pomelo crop yield has dropped abnormally to only 4-5 quintals/100 trees.

If many years ago, pomelo trees gave an average income of 150-200 million VND/ha, this crop only brought in a few tens of millions of VND.

One of the pomelo gardens with a small quantity of fruit in Thuy Bieu ward, Hue city, Thua Thien Hue province.

This meager income is only enough to buy fertilizer, pesticides, and labor costs for garden care for the next crop. Up to now, people do not know the specific cause of the pomelo crop failure, but the initial assessment is that it is due to unusual weather and complicated hot weather.

The failure of pomelo crop is a matter of concern for the people of Thuy Bieu in particular and the whole province in general. Losing income from pomelo means losing the livelihood for many households specializing in growing this specialty crop.

Mr. Kiet affirmed that the heavy damage to the pomelo crop would greatly affect the lives of his family as well as the local people. With no other choice, Mr. Kiet's family and the people take care of and fertilize the garden in the hope that the next pomelo crop will be good, making up for this one.

The privilege of alluvium from the Huong River deposited annually, the lands in many localities along this river are suitable for many types of fruit trees to grow, giving high productivity and economic efficiency, especially pomelo trees. In Thuy Bieu ward alone, there are more than 120 hectares of pomelo trees.

Thanh Tra has long been the main economic crop of Thuy Bieu and many localities along the Huong River, Bo River, and O Lau River.

Vice Chairman of Thuy Bieu Ward People's Committee, Mr. Vo Ba Binh informed that in previous crops, almost every pomelo crop of Thuy Bieu Ward reached an average of 600-700 tons, earning around 20 billion VND.

However, this year’s pomelo crop yielded only about 100 tons, considered the worst crop ever. Many orchards had almost no fruit, or very little fruit. The yield and output of this pomelo crop was only 15-20% of the previous crop.

The cause, initially identified by the locality and the agricultural sector, is complicated and erratic weather, which has resulted in very low flowering and fruiting rates. Although people have taken measures to cope, many fruit-bearing orchards have fallen off as soon as they bear fruit.

According to Mr. Vo Ba Binh, with the current complicated weather, there is no other way but to organize propaganda, mobilize, and guide people to synchronously implement measures to care for, fertilize, and improve gardens so that the next crop can achieve productivity and output.

Mr. Ho Dinh, Head of the Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection of Thua Thien Hue province, confirmed that this is a common pomelo crop failure in the whole province, not only in Thuy Bieu but also in many other localities in the province.

In addition to complex weather conditions, some dangerous pests and diseases that harm crops such as gummosis, sooty mold and harmful objects such as stem borers, greening disease...

The Department is coordinating with localities to guide people to improve care, fertilize in a balanced way, and increase the use of decomposed manure to help plants grow, develop healthily, and resist harmful pests and diseases. Notably, it is necessary to manage and prevent gummosis and continue to monitor other harmful organisms to have timely management and prevention measures.

Source: https://danviet.vn/vuon-thanh-tra-qua-dac-san-o-tp-hue-nguoc-mat-len-thay-trai-lua-thua-co-cay-toan-la-that-thu-20240623010550176.htm