Hong Van An, 68, in Chu township, Luc Ngan district, Bac Giang province, has nearly 40 years of experience planting lychee. (Photo: VNA)Bac Giang (VNA) –Thieu lychee, a specialty fruit of Luc Ngan district in northern Bac Giangprovince, are expected to soon be readily-found in one of the most choosy marketsin the world - Japan - marking a major step in Vietnamese agricultural productsreaching out to the globe.
La Van Nam, Chairman of thedistrict People’s Committee, said that as the COVID-19 pandemic has beenbrought under control in Vietnam, the locality is preparing scenarios for the productionand consumption of its Thieu lychee which distinguishes itself from othervarieties with spherical shape; bright, thin and red peel; thick, white, sweetand juicy flesh; and small seed.
“We are focusing on domesticand traditional markets such as China, Eastern Europe, and the US. Ofparticular note, this year the district has a new market - Japan.”
The pandemic has now beenlargely brought control in Vietnam and conditions are favourable for lychee exports,Nam went on. “To do so, we have organised trade promotion activities at border gateswith 63 domestic locations and four in China,” he explained, adding that LucNgan, known as the “Kingdom of lychee” in Vietnam expects to harvest a total of85,000 tonnes of Thieu lychee this year.
“We have also worked with counsellors in Vietnamese embassiesabroad and invited domestic businesses with links to foreign partners to selectgrowing areas with traceability codes, as required by import procedures in Japanand the US.”
Luc Ngan will this year set aside more than 210 ha forgrowing Thieu lychee for export to the US and more than 90 ha for Japan, Nam said,adding that it plans to export 500 tonnes to the latter. All of its orchards havetraceability codes.
Expanding organic areas
According to An, harvesting is the hardest time of the season, because he and his family must get up early to pick the fruit. (Photo: VNA)The family of Hong Van An,68, in Chu township, Luc Ngan district, is a pioneering household in growing organicThieu lychee. He has nearly 40 years of experience planting lychee and his familycurrently tends about 400 trees on each hectare.
Now, as the fruit is ripe, he and his family rise early in the morningto pick the fruit to guarantee the best taste and look. “Harvesting is the hardesttime of the season, because we must get up at 4 or 5am. If we started out later,the hot weather would harm the fruit,” An said,wiping out drops of sweat on his face with his bare hands darkened by sap.
“We hope to harvestabout 20 tonnes of Thieu lychee this year, down 10 tonnes compared to 2019.”
Despite the cutin production, An said he is still quite happy because he can sell the fruit atabout 30,000 VND (1.29 USD) per kg, the same as last year’s price, which is “quitegood” in the context of COVID-19 remaining a complex issue in many countries.
He added that 60-70percent of the lychee in his orchard is for export. The fruit is grown under VietnameseGood Agricultural Practices (VietGAP) standards, with stricter procedures in caringtime, including the use of pesticides on a permitted list, and with a number ofstandards to be met during harvesting.
Organic Thieu lychee possessesmany advantages, such as being safe for customers, not harmful on the environment,and being without any residue from plant protection drugs, which help plants growbetter and bear tastier, sweeter, and more fragrant fruit.
“During a recent inspectionof the lychee in our orchard, Japanese experts recognised our efforts and will checkagain in the near future to see if it is fit for export to their country,” Ansaid.
Meetingstringent requirements
Thieu lychee distinguishes itself from other varieties with spherical shape; bright, thin and red peel; thick, white, sweet and juicy flesh; and small seed. (Photo: VNA)More than half of Vietnam’s Thieu lychee outputis shipped to nearly 30 countries and territories annually. China is the leadingforeign market, while the fruit has also found a place on shelves in challengingmarkets such as the US, Europe, Canada, and Australia.
Luc Ngan’s Thieu lychee has been exported tothe US for three years already, said Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, a technical officerat the district’s Technical Centre for Agricultural Services.
2020 is set to be the first year the fruitenters Japan, she said, in a move that is hoped to significantly raise the brandvalue and competitiveness of the district’s specialty.
In late 2019, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) announced the opening of the door to Vietnamese lychee,with regulations in place on imported plant quarantining for the fruit.
This was the result of more than five yearsof negotiations between the Vietnamese Plant Protection Department at the Ministryof Agriculture and Rural Development and MAFF.
To conquer such a demanding market as Japan,local Thieu lychee growers must satisfy strict requirements, with the fruit beinggrown at orchards under the supervision of specialists from the Plant ProtectionDepartment and possessing origin-tracing codes.
Phytosanitary regulations and food safety standardsin Japan must be thoroughly met, and a certificate issued by the Plant ProtectionDepartment enclosed with lychee shipments to the country, Thuy added.
“When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs first proposed shippingthe fruit to Japan, Luc Ngan district started building a cultivation area dedicatedsolely for export to the market and closely followed its requirements,” she noted./.
VNA
