Lai Thieu orchard’s value recovered gradually

Thanks to attention of provincial leaders, all level sectors and local authority, Lai Thieu orchard – a specialty brand name of yore in Thuan An town in particular and Binh Duong in general has been gradually recovered. Tourists come back Lai Thieu orchard is entering harvests. Along to roads from An Thanh ward to Thuan An town’s hub, hundreds of fruit booths seem to invite tourists to try tasting the famous land’s specialty fruits. Bui Ngoc Vi, vice chairwoman of An Son commune People’s Committee said that thanks to advantaged weather, local fruit growers this year enjoy an abundant crop. Most of the orchard is laden with fruits, especially mangosteen gives a double output compared with the previous years. In a long time, owing to disadvantaged weather plus environmental pollution, Lai Thieu orchard was impacted badly, triggering a heavy loss of output and quality. This made many small traders import fruits from other localities. This element made Lai Thieu fruits become oblivious. Therefore, this year’s abundant harvest of fruits in Lai Thieu helps local growers not only increase income but recover Lai Thieu fruit trademark. Possibly speaking, most of tourists everywhere want to taste Lai Thieu’s specialty fruits. Le Quang Hieu in district 12 in HCMC, a tourist said that in many formative years, Lai Thieu orchards lacked of tourist sites but now there are many restaurants and tourism areas ready to cater for tourists. The most impressive thing for Quang is distinctive taste of Lai Thieu’s specialty fruits. He hoped that he would enjoy Lai Thieu’s specialty fruits again. “Recently, more and more tourists flock to Lai Thieu orchards. As businessmen, we are very happy. Thanks to local authority’s attention to prestige and quality, we gradually know how to attract tourists sustainably”, Pham Thi Hien, a fruit seller in Hung Dinh ward said. Trademark recovered Over the past time, the provincial administration ratified many projects and held seminars and talk-shows to find out solutions to recover Lai Thieu fruits’ trademark. Notably, the Lai Thieu fruit festival 2013 and supportive programs for fruit growers contribute to revive prestige of Lai Thieu specialty fruits. More and more tourists flock to Lai Thieu orchard. This is a joyful signal for Binh Duong famous trademark of yore. Apart from assistance from local sectors and authorities, people are aware of developing tourism business. Much orchard's owners actively invest and newly plant and take care of their fruit gardens to develop tourism business sustainably. For instance, Vo Van Trung, Nguyen Van Ngoan in An Son commune repair roads, dredge canals and newly plant fruit trees to attract more tourists. Besides, along with local people, many investors arrive at Lai Thieu to develop eco-tourism business. This is one of important elements helping trademark of Lai Thieu tourism recover its position. 20km away from Ho Chi Minh City in the North and about 10km away from Thu Dau Mot city in the South, Lai Thieu orchard is a green tourism site for people. Lai Thieu orchard is a famous locality for hundreds of years in which Lai Thieu mangosteen is listed in top 50 famous fruits of Vietnam. Lai Thieu orchard has about over 1,230ha, focused mainly on An Son commune with over 400ha.                                                                                               Reported by B.Minh - Translated by A.C