Hanoi has favourable natural conditions for developing tropical fruit trees. In particular, Canh orange, Dien grapefruit and late-ripening longan have long been famous specialties of the capital city.
Developing specialty fruit trees is the right direction as it generates high value and suits urban agriculture.
High economic efficiency
For years, the late-ripening longan farm owned by Mr Tran Van Bay in Phuong Vien village, Song Phuong commune, Hoai Duc district along Thang Long Boulevard has been a common destination for many farmers in Hanoi and other provinces to study, because this is one of the most effective agricultural economic models today. His farm has 1,000 late-ripening longan trees which bear 30 tonnes of fruit, valued at over VND1 billion, a year.
Mr Trieu Tien Ich, Chairman of Hoai Duc Late-ripening Longan Association, said Bay is one of many successful longan growers among the association’s members. He said late-ripening longan fruit is typically delicious and high-yield. The output is about 18 tonnes per ha. Moreover, late-ripening longan in Hoai Duc is VietGAP-certified (good agricultural practice); thus, its selling prices are high, averaging VND40,000 per kg, 2 - 2.5 times higher than longan fruit harvested in the right season time. Average income for late-ripening longan is VND700-800 million per ha.
Apart from late-ripening longan, in recent years, Hanoi has developed many fruit tree growing models to enhance value and output, like Canh orange, Dien grapefruit and Hong banana. Currently, the city has 14,000 ha of fruit trees which bear 960,000 tonnes of fruits a year, mainly concentrated in Ba Vi, Soc Son and Chuong My districts.
According to statistics, fruit trees have high economic value. A hectare of orchards generates an average income of VND68.2 million, with some kinds reaching hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong. Moreover, new growing models also generate green, clean and beautiful ecological landscape and suit the urban agriculture development orientation in Hanoi.
Improving quality
Despite the high economic efficiency, fruit tree development in Hanoi is still facing difficulties. Currently, fresh fruit output meets just 21.4 percent of local consumer demand, while the rest is made up by supplies from other provinces and imports from foreign countries. Moreover, fruit growing area is fragmented and the quality of fruit is not stable, particularly fruit size, colour and shape.
In addition, farmers mainly sell fresh fruits directly to the market, not processed; therefore, the quality sometimes fails to meet market requirements. Defining fruit tree cultivation as an important direction for the crop restructuring plan, and improve production efficiency and income for farmers, in March 2013, city leaders approved the scheme for development of a number of high-valued fruit trees in Hanoi from 2012 to 2016. The city will have four special fruit tree areas: Dien grapefruit in Chuong My and My Duc districts, late-ripening longan in Quoc Oai and Hoai Duc districts, banana in Gia Lam and Dong Anh districts, and Canh orange in Thanh Oai and Thuong Tin districts.
To implement this scheme, the Hanoi Crop Development Centre has built up 31 models of intensive fruit cultivation, grafting and improvement in 21 communes on a total area of 450 ha. Hoang Thanh Van, Director of Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the department will continue fertiliser, seeding and technical support for farmers.
The department will encourage the construction of production infrastructure and product advertisement, while strengthening State management over production, processing and trading of fruits in order to get rid of poor quality products on the market.
Hanoi aims to have 15,500 ha of fruit trees and 230,000 tonnes of fruits in 2016. The value of fruit cultivation is expected to increase 30 percent, with special fruit production value rising to VND250-300 million per ha from the current VND102 million.
Vietnamese
