Value from reality

Citrus trees have been developed in Hieu Liem commune in the recent years, thanks to sharply development of the Southwestern provinces-originated farmers earning a living in Binh Duong. At present, the whole of the commune has had about 60 households planting various varieties of citrus trees, accounting for more than 90% of 602ha of orchards in this commune.

In addition, Hieu Liem homes to more than 4,100ha of agricultural land area, accounting for 90.3% of the whole commune’s area. This is a large advantage of Hieu Liem commune to develop farm produce.

At present, Hieu Liem commune has been under rapid development of citrus orchards. Several years ago, Lam Thanh Tham along with many gardeners from the Mekong province of Dong Thap arrived at Binh Duong to buy orange and mandarin trees to supply for the Northern provinces. And, they were surprised to witness local advantages of soil, climate for cultivating orchards. Therefore, Tham mulled over solving watering in dry season to reap high profits and abundant crops.

With the determination, Tham, Thuong and more than tens of households growing citrus trees in this locality enjoyed a huge profit after only several years. On average, citrus orchards bring a profit of about VND300mil per ha per year. Sometimes, on the time of high price, they enjoy up to VND600-700mil per ha per year. This is a very impressive figure for areas specializing in citrus trees.

Advantages of soil and climate plus experience and effort have made Hieu Liem commune-based             citrus orchards filled with fruits around the year. With more than 600ha, Hieu Liem commune has become one of areas specializing in citrus orchards with the largest area in the Southeastern region. Citrus orchards in Hieu Liem have become the famous trademark, luring numerous clients nationwide.

Trust for a pilot project

Though Hieu Liem’s orchards develop rapidly, local citrus orchards develop unpromptedly and lack of synchronous growth.

In addition to Phuong Uyen grapefruit farm, few of farmers invest in advanced technology, so they can not join in standards of VietGAP, GlobalGAP, triggering failure on the market or export.

This puts task and goal for the project of developing citrus orchards at Hieu Liem commune. Accordingly, Binh Duong Plant Protection Bureau has invested in developing 5 citrus orchards with the area of 7ha in line with VietGAP standard, 5 ha of which are for cultivating orange trees. The 3-year project is worth of about VND4.5bil and targets to create orchards in the closed and hi-tech production models.

Presently, customers have high knowledge on quality of farm produce. They will require new standards in both quality and food safety & hygiene. Therefore, in order to improve competitiveness and win customers’ trust, manufacturing fruits in line with VietGAP standard is very essential.

Pham Van Bong, vice director of Binh Duong provincial department of Agriculture and Rural Development said “The project will contribute to form up citrus orchards in Hieu Liem commune with famous and quality varieties, meeting the market’s requirements. This project along with Bach Dang grapefruit will create scenes to develop strongly North Tan Uyen’s tourism industry in particular and Binh Duong province in general. In addition, the project’s development will help expand this model across the province, contributing to build a new rural area in the locality”.

Reported by K.Vinh – Translated by A.C