Changes in the mountainous area of Luc Ngan after 'lychees export'
With high economic efficiency and stable output for many years, the lychee has become the main cash crop for the people of Bac Giang province, including its mountainous districts like Luc Ngan.
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Previously, Luc Ngan was one of the economically stricken mountainous districts of the province, many communes in the pass area had a low rate of hardened roads. Facing the fact, in the period 2015-2020, the Party Committee, the government and people of Luc Ngan district have made unremitting efforts in all aspects to promote socio-economic development; clearly changed the face of the mountainous countryside in the area.
Improvement of roads, a momentum created for economic development
Along with renovating and upgrading rural roads, the district also planned and invested in building many new inner-city routes, such as: Expanding and renewing Tran Phu and Le Duan streets, renovating the extended Tran Phu road intersection, where it intersects National Road 31 (QL31) to go to Nam Duong bridge. The district has been invested by the province to build a new bridge, upgrading and expanding DT289 road through Chu town.
Mr. Le Tuan Anh, Head of Economic and Infrastructure Department of Luc Ngan district said: “when the traffic routes are improved, in addition to removing the isolation for upland and remote communes, creating favorable conditions for people and means of transportation, trade, economic development, and also forming a land fund for planning into new urban areas and residential areas. At the same time, it contributes to connecting and helping people in the area to be convenient in the production and consumption of agricultural products, and to develop the economy of areas of hills and forests.”
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| People in Luc Ngan standing in a queue in turn to weigh their lychee. (Photo: Youth) |
Specifically, in the lychee crop in 2021, amid the spreading complications of the COVID-19 pandemic in the area, more than half of the communes were isolated and blocked by the enactment of Directive 16 of the Government, it was speculated that there would be more difficulty in consumption.
However, with a complete road system, and many creative ways by both the people and the local authorities, lychee is not only well consumed domestically but also conveniently exported through official channels, appreciated by consumers in some traditional export markets such as China, Cambodia, Thailand and some Southeast Asian countries with dozens of thousands of tons.
In addition, lychees are also exported to Japan, Australia, the US, France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Germany, and they were well received by the people. These are all the most demanding markets in the world, with very high demands on product quality, which helps to affirm the brand and quality of Luc Ngan lychee.
At that time, according to Luc Ngan District Party Committee in its review of the lychee crop in 2021, the whole district is estimated to gain a total revenue of more than VND 4,800 billion from selling lychee and ancillary services.
Another crop of sweet fruit
Bac Giang province has officially kicked off the lychee crop in 2022 with a celebrated event "Connecting trade, promoting consumption of lychee and key agricultural products, distinguishing Bac Giang province to the US market in 2022", recently at the main bridge broadcasting of the People's Committee of Bac Giang province and transmitted online at other 4 bridge broadcastings at the Embassy, the Vietnam Trade Office in the United States.
This year, the production of lychee in Bac Giang province is expected to yield over 160,000 tons. Mr. Phan The Tuan - Vice Chairman of Bac Giang Provincial People's Committee - said that due to favorable weather, lychee fields in the province grow well, while pests and diseases are well controlled, the lychee offers a delicious taste of outstanding quality.
It is expected that in the 2022 lychee crop, Bac Giang will export to the US, Australia, and European Union (EU) markets, bearing the 18 growing area codes (with IRADS codes granted by the US) with an area of 218 hectares. The output is about 1,600 tons.
To promote consumption, the province encourages traders and businesses to open lychee stalls on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon.com, Alibaba.com, Sendo.vn, Postmart.vn, Voso.vn...; on social networks, fanpages on Facebook, and Zalo.
In 2022, Bac Giang Post Office plans to put 96,000 households on the trade platforms through opening accounts at the e-commerce platform Postmart.vn; support and training in product packaging, training for farmers to approach trading on the electronic platform to diversify outputs for their products.
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| Online conference to connect trade, promote consumption of lychee and key agricultural products, distinguishing Bac Giang province to the US market in 2022. (Photo: Tam An) |
Besides, Bac Giang people are determined to continue to improve the quality of lychee through standard production. Mr. Vu Nguyen Binh - Director of “Binh Nguyen” Clean Agricultural Cooperative (Quy Thinh village, Quy Son commune, Luc Ngan district) - said that for the past 4 years, the cooperative has gradually switched to VietGAP standard production and organic products to ensure the safest and best quality lychees.
This year the weather turns favorable, the disease has been basically controlled, people have better invested in lychee, so it is expected that the yield and quality of lychee will increase compared to last year.
Currently, early lychee fields are in the flowering and fruiting stage. The flowering rate is over 90%, of which over 90% in Luc Ngan and Tan Yen districts, 80-85% in the remaining districts; to schedule the harvest time from May 15. The main lychee crop of Bac Giang has also flowered. The expected harvest time is from June 10 to July 30, 2022.
According to the leaders of Bac Giang province, although being oriented to an industrial province, Bac Giang still maintains 4 mountainous districts to build green development areas, focusing on agriculture and fruit plantation areas of the whole country, in which lychee is a specialty and a staple product.
In the coming years, the province will continue to invest in agricultural development in the direction of improving quality, going into production according to advanced organic and food safety standards for export.
For lychee, currently 40-50% of the output is exported, mainly raw fresh fruit, while the processed products are still limited. In the future, the province is interested in attracting investors and businesses that both export fresh lychee and invest in technology for processed products to be exported.
