Thanh Ha farmers focus on growing lychee

Take care of lychee like raising a baby

With a harmonious combination of traditional methods and modern techniques, farmers in Thanh Ha district are devoting all their efforts to a lychee crop that is predicted to be successful.

From early morning, the small winding roads through the lychee gardens in Thanh Ha district are bustling with people's footsteps. Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuong in Lai Xa 2 village (Thanh Tan commune) is present in the lychee garden to shake the trees to reduce the dew and spray pesticides to kill inchworms and nest rollers. Ms. Cuong's family grows nearly 1 hectare of early-season lychee, lychee in the main season. Her family has few members, so she is responsible for spraying pesticides alone so that the lychee can grow well. "In the past, this job required at least 2 people, one to pump the sprayer and the other to spray the pesticide. Now, the sprayer is run by machine, so only one person is needed," Ms. Cuong said.

Thanh Ha's early lychee fruit is now almost as big as the tip of a little finger. With thieu lychee, the fruit is as big as the tip of a toothpick. Both types of lychee are in the young fruit stage, so in addition to spraying pesticides, people are also actively watering the trees to concentrate nutrients to nourish the fruit.

In the wide-spreading lychee canopy, farmers prune young branches, carefully check each bunch of fruit to promptly detect pests and diseases, and clean and sweep leaves to avoid harmful pathogens.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hau in Vinh Xa village (Vinh Cuong commune), one of the households that have grown lychee for many years, gently broke off a diseased branch and said: "Lychee trees are not easy to please. They look healthy but if you don't check carefully, there will be branches that are infected with mealybugs. If you don't treat them right away, it will affect the fruit and spread to other trees. Taking care of lychee trees must be as meticulous as raising a baby. Lychee is a commodity, in addition to good quality, the lychee fruit must have a beautiful appearance to sell at a good price."

Thanh Ha district has 3,285 hectares of lychee. Up to this point, the weather is basically favorable, so the lychee has flowered and fruited at 98%. The most difficult thing for lychee growers at this time is how to make the lychee grow quickly, have good quality, and look beautiful. Lychee growers are putting all their efforts into taking care of the trees, nurturing the fruit, cutting off young shoots, pruning excess branches, creating an airy canopy... with the sole purpose of helping the trees concentrate nutrients to nourish the fruit for a bumper lychee season.

Clean fabric "makes money"

Thanh Ha lychee output is expected to reach 38,000 tons this year, an increase of 13,000 tons compared to last year. Not stopping at the experience of “father to son”, many Thanh Ha farmers have applied technical advances to lychee care. People do not eliminate old methods but choose a harmony between traditional methods combined with the application of modern science in cultivation.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong in Thanh Lanh village (Thanh Quang commune) said that for many years now, his family and farmers in the commune have switched to using composted organic fertilizer with biological products to fertilize lychee trees. The effect is clearly seen when the trees are healthy, the leaves are green, pests and diseases are reduced, and the quality of the lychee fruit is better.

Households proactively install water-saving irrigation systems and use biological sticky traps to kill harmful insects. Farmers in growing areas that meet VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards carefully record care logs from the date of spraying pesticides, fertilizing, to the growth index of the plants to ensure a clean and transparent process when shipping.

The entire lychee growing area of ​​Thanh Ha district is grown according to VietAP process and complies with safe production processes, no spraying of pesticides during the flowering stage, no use of fruit-setting stimulants, absolutely "say no" to banned substances... The quality of Thanh Ha lychee is increasingly focused on improving, meeting strict export requirements to demanding markets such as Japan, Europe, America...

Mr. Ngo Ba Dinh, Vice Chairman of Thanh Ha District People's Committee, said that for a long time, lychee has not only been limited to the family economy but also the identity of Thanh Ha land. Lychee is not only a sweet fruit, but also a culture, a source of pride for the people here. Therefore, accompanying lychee growers, Thanh Ha District's professional agencies have actively guided people on lychee care techniques, grasped the weather, and the situation of pests and diseases to work with Thanh Ha people towards a bountiful lychee season.