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Tree growers hope Tet’s a peach
Ha Noi’s Nhat Tan peach tree growers are optimistic that the destruction caused to their crops during the historic rain last November will not negatively affect their profits during Tet.
Out of a total 30ha of peach trees planted in Nhat Tan, only 2ha were flooded thanks to its highland location.
Chu Duc Toan, a farmer whose 400 bonsai peach trees survived the storm, says the current weather conditions are good for making the peach trees bloom.
He also says peach branch buyers will pay between VND200,000 and VND250,000 (US$12-15) three times higher than last year.
The cost to rent a bonsai peach tree will range from VND2.5 million to VND10 million (US$600) during this year’s Tet.
According to Nguyen Van Thang, an experienced grower, the price increase is due to the growing costs of fertiliser and peach trees.
With the merger of Ha Tay Province into Ha Noi, La Ca Village in Duong Noi Commune became one of the capital’s largest peach blossom villages.
Unfortunately, 60ha out of the 100ha of peach blossoms died as a result of the excessive rain.
The 1,000-tree farm of La Noi Agricultural Co-operative has 75ha of peach blossoms, of which 70 per cent are peach trees. The rest are ornamental trees.
According to Dao Dinh Nhuom, at this time last year La Ca villagers were busy plucking leaves off trees, but now they are reluctant.
"We must consider the condition of each tree to make them the right shape," he said.
Farmer Nguyen Thi Ngu in La Noi lost 1,080sq.m out of 1,800sq.m of peach trees after the floods.
"If the weather co-operates, I can still make a small profit from the 720sq.m remaining during Tet," she said.
"I earned VND20 million ($1,200) in profit from 360sq.m of branched peach blossoms last year. Profits from ornamental trees would be much higher, upwards of VND100 million."
Nguyen Trung Truc, one of the first peach blossom growers in the village, said beautiful peach trees are rare this year because of the bad weather.
Traders have flocked into La Ca and Nhat Tan early to order peach trees, although Tet is still 42 days away.
The price for peach trees will be even higher if damaging cold weather hits before the holiday, because the flowers will be unable to bloom.
Mandarin trees are another key crop for the holiday festivities. Tu Lien mandarin orange tree village is located in a highland area and suffered less damage from the floods.
Nguyen Van Hong, owner of 1,000 trees in Tu Lien, hopes to reap a high profit from his trees during the coming Tet. Other mandarin orange producing villages of Quang Ba in Ha Noi, and other localities in Hung Yen and Bac Ninh provinces suffered heavy damages from the floods, giving him an advantage. According to Do Van Tien, deputy chairman of Duong Noi Commune People’s Committee, 100ha of La Ca are designated as agricultural land for peach blossoms.
Soon, planned infrastructure projects will take 90 per cent of that area.
Viet Nam News
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