HCMCity (VNS/VNA) — Despite the effects of the COVID-19pandemic, growers in the two biggest flower villages in the Mekong Delta-- Cho Lach in Ben Tre province and Sa Dec in Dong Thap province-- have been preparing new varieties of flowers for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays.
Different kinds of flowers havebeen planted on a total area of 100 hectares in Sa DecCity. While Cho Lach is famous for ornamental plants, Sa Dec has over1,500 varieties of flowers.
Many kinds of ancientroses from Hai Phong city, Sa Pa (in Lao Cai province) and Thua Thien-Hue province amongother provinces, are being studied to introduce them during Tet, according to Sa Dec flower farmers.
The Sa Dec flower village isexpected to produce 2.5 to 3 million flower pots of all kinds,including 600,000 rose pots.
In Cho Lach flower village,about 6,000 households from Long Thoi, Tan Thieng, Hoa Nghia, Vinh Thanh, Phu Son,and Hung Khanh Trung B communes in Cho Lach district, areproducing ornamental plants.
This year, in addition to themain ornamental plants such as apricot and camellia, locals in thevillage have invested in imported varieties to meet the demandsof customers.
About 17 million products ofall kinds are expected from the Cho Lach flower village for Tet.
According to the EconomicDepartment of Sa Dec City, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemichas decreased sales of ornamental plants in 2020. As thesituation has slowly improved, the ornamental plant market is expected torecover, it said.
The head of the “I love purple”association in Sa Dec flower village, Tran Van Tiep, said that despite thereduction in the number of fresh flowers sold, ornamental plantshave thrived during this period.
“That being said, flower pricesthis year are expected to be higher than that of last year,” he added.
“As the coming Lunar New Yearis the year of the buffalo, our family has created many ornamental plants inthe shape of a buffalo,” said Nguyen Thi Them, who specialises inproducing decorative ornamental plants in Cho Lach flower village.
“We usually take orders to makethese types of plants due to the high cost. Luckily, we have received manyorders from HCM City and neighboring provinces recently. Buffalo-shaped plantsare priced at 2 million VND (87 USD) to 10 million VND perplant," she said./.