With a land area of about 2,000 hectares, North Tan Uyen is one of the leading localities in terms of yield and quality of citrus fruits. Orange, grapefruit, tangerine have not only brought significant incomes to farmers in the province in recent years, but also are delicious, sweet, clean and safe agricultural specialities of Binh Duong.
Collective trademark of North Tan Uyen orange, pomelo is recognized as the foundation for North Tan Uyen citrus fruits to reach further.
The model of clean agricultural production
Since 2014, North Tan Uyen district has implemented five power projects, over 10 irrigation projects and dozens of large-scale transportation projects that serve the development of agriculture in general and specialized areas of fruit trees in particular. In addition, the agricultural extension, the application of advanced science and technology, and investment in infrastructure for agricultural development are also boosted by the district. Specifically, every year, the District Economic Department organizes from 15 to 20 training courses, transfers 3-5 advanced production models and applications of scientific and technical advances to farmers. So far, the whole district has about 500 hectares of harvested fruit trees, of which more than 100 hectares are produced in the direction of VietGAP and more than 60 hectares have been certified to be VietGAP.
In Hieu Liem commune, one of the communes having the largest area of citrus fruit in the district, the rapid development of the North Tan Uyen citrus fruit growing area became apparent. In fact, orange trees and tangerine trees have been growing for nearly 10 years in North Tan Uyen, as farmers in the Mekong Delta discovered that this land was suitable for growing citrus trees.
As the carrier of orange tree from Lai Vung, Dong Thap province to this the new land, Mr. Lam Thanh Tham in Hieu Liem commune now has the largest orange orchard in the province with an area of about 150 hectares with an annual income of tens of billion. In order to reverse the season, Mr. Tham successfully tested the method of using nylon canvas in covering orange beds to actively control the supply of water, fertilizer and medicine for trees. This method is now the secret of "water squeeze" for the opposite season by creating temporary drought for the orchard, and has been applied effectively by Mr. Tham and many farmers. Since Mr. Tham's success, the citrus tree planting model has spread to Hieu Liem, Tan My, Tan Tan, Lac An and Tan Dinh commune with hundreds of farmer participation and gives very good income. When the fruit orchards in stable production period, the output is expected to reach tens thousand of tons per year, bringing an income from VND 600 million to about VND 1 billion/hectares.
Mr. Luong Van Phung, who has a 2-hectare orange, tangerine orchard in Hieu Liem commune, said that in the last harvest of fruit, for 1 hectare of oranges his family produced about 65 tons, 1 hectare tangerine brought over 50 tons. Currently he is registering and applying the technique of growing oranges, tangerines under VietGAP standards for his orchard.
Raising the value of citrus trees
However, up to now, the branding to promote products, increase competitiveness, solve the output of these fruits is a difficult problem for the local. With a view to sustainable market, protection of interests and branding of local specialty fruits, in 2015, People's Committee of North Tan Uyen district approved a project of building, managing and developing collective trademark of North Tan Uyen orange, pomelo. Since then, Economic Department of the district coordinated with Vietnam Science Entrepreneurs Association to survey and map the area of oranges and pomelos; Study the meaning, vision and criteria of the trademark; build and complete data of collective trademark registration...
After 2 years of implementation, the project of building, managing and developing North Tan Uyen orange and pomelo, National Office of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology) granted the trademark registration certificate to "North Tan Uyen Orange","North Tan Uyen Pomelo", and many farms and orchards are planted in VietGAP standard model.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan, Head of Economic Department of North Tan Uyen district, said that when successfully building a collective trademark, one of the most concerned issues of the district was creating sustainable output for the product. When North Tan Uyen orange and pomelo were certified for industrial property rights, the value of products and reputation of producers will also be improved, and functional sectors will have good management conditions for production process, harvesting, consumption as well as control the quality of products. This is considered as an important foundation that will enable North Tan Uyen orange and pomelo to reach the international market.
Mr. Thai Thanh Binh, Chairman of People's Committee of North Tan Uyen district, affirmed that trademark protection certificate of North Tan Uyen orange and pomelo is just the beginning of the project. It is a long way to go to develop a brand name, which requires a great deal of efforts not only from the Party, government and people in the district but also the support, attention of all levels, branches, press agencies, media in and outside the province to promote, inform about the collective.
According to Nguyen Minh Tuan, Vice Chairman of People's Committee of Hieu Liem Commune, at present, most of citrus planting area is cultivated in the direction of high-tech application to achieve the highest yield. The pilot of citrus fruit growing model according to VietGAP standards in the commune has been a good foundation for the construction of specialized citrus orchards. In addition, when products is certified, pomelo growers in the commune will consciously abide by production process, fruit weight, sugar content; then fruit supply would achieve good quality, stable yield and good reputation in the market.
Reported by Quynh Nhien – Translated by Ngoc Huynh
