On these days, Van Don District’s people are gearing up to take care of peach trees to meet market demand on the occasion of Lunar New Year.
Ha Long Commune is the basket of peach blossoms in Van Don District. This year, Nguyen Van Giao’s family in Hamlet 6 (Ha Long Commune) has 600 peach trees of different kinds. To date, he has pruned dead leaves for the trees to produce more buds, and trimmed branches to make decorative shapes.
With 30 years experience, he said “The weather this year is harder than previous ones with unpredicted hot and cold waves. Besides, the spring comes late. So I have to re-plan of work a bit earlier to ensure peach blossoms in full bloom right on Tet Holiday. A number of customers have come to my garden to pre-order their trees then they will come again ahead of Tet to bring their trees home. Each tree costs 800,000-1,200,000 VND”. Among 600 peach trees, he has 500 trees for Tet market. He expects to earn a revenue of 350 million VND this traditional festival.
According to Van Don District’s Office of Agricultural and Rural Development, total peach tree cultivation area in the district is 62.8 ha, of which 53.8 ha are in Ha Long Commune. There are 254 households in the district planting peach trees, including 225 families in Ha Long Commune. Each household grow dozens to hundreds of trees on average, mainly Van Don’s wild peach trees. Peach tree cultivators have stable incomes of 70-80 million VND a hectare per year, and even 300-400 million VND a year.
Over years, peach trees have been main crops of Van Don District, producing high yield and contributing to hunger and poverty reduction as well as boosting local socio-economic development. In 2016, Van Don District People’s Committee approved detailed planning for centralized peach tree cultivation in the period of 2016-2020 with a vision to 2030. The planned region stretches 4 communes of Ha Long, Doan Ket, Dai Xuyen, and Dong Xa with total area of 129 ha.
The year of the Rat is coming so near. Under Van Don’s farmers’ care, wild peach branches with big buds will in full bloom soon. And growers hope for a bumper crop.
Translated by Quynh Trang
