Coming to Cao Phong this season, the most difficult thing is to... stand still. Because just a few steps away, you will meet a new garden, each garden is a separate story about how to preserve land, keep trees and preserve the brand "Cao Phong cam" that has spread for many years.
Experience the golden fruit season
The experience started in the morning, when the fog was still stuck on the leaves. Under the first sunlight of the day, the round oranges shining like a drop of sunlight were cared for by the soil and people. The occasional orange scent in the wind, the rustic and enchanting scent, makes anyone easily moved.
For the people of Cao Phong, each orange tree is a "little child". All year long, fertilize until the harvest, the fruit has a rich sweet taste interspersed with a characteristic sourness. The essential oil scent from orange peel is fragrant and attractive. biting a piece of orange immediately made me realize: This is Cao Phong orange, it cannot be confused with any other orange variety.
Walking in the middle of the orange garden, listening to the growers' stories, I can see how meticulous and patient they are to get that flavor. Each land, light, slope, irrigation method, all are calculated.
A highlight of this year's orange season is the Cao Phong Agricultural Cooperative (HTX) 3T (3T Farm). The cooperative's products have just achieved Halal certification according to HVN and OIC/SMIIC standards, a big step forward to open the door to the international market. In addition to Halal, 3T Farm oranges also meet ISO 22000:2018, Eurofins and more than 900 safety indicators, creating strong reputation with consumers.
Ms. Vu Thi Le Thuy - Director of the Cooperative, said: "The Cooperative does not run by area but focuses on quality. Only when doing the right thing, doing it from the heart can we survive and go far. Thanks to clean farming, the cooperative's orange garden has become a familiar destination for many visitors.
Tourists are allowed to cut golden oranges themselves, listen to stories about organic production, test international standards and be willing to pay a higher price to buy safe, transparent products".
equally attractive is the story of "leaving the city to return to the garden" by Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, owner of the 3-hectare Vita Garden garden in Co hamlet. Every day, in the middle of a small house in the middle of a hill, he studies local probiotics, enzymes, radioactive insects and Bacillus to replace chemicals. He said: "The plant nutrients are supplemented entirely with organic fertilizer and local ingredients such as fish, bananas, soybeans. The process is elaborate but in return, sustainable, that is Vita Garden's orange that meets strict Eurofins standards".
From the top of Vita Garden's hill, visitors can see the whole bowl of orange, pick a basket of yellow-heart oranges and enjoy right at the base of the tree. Having returned to Cao Phong for the third time to experience picking oranges in the garden, Ms. Dinh Thu Phuong, a tourist from Bac Ninh, shared: The most memorable moment was when I took a knife and separated the picked orange in half, the orange juice rose like honey, the orange scent was fragrant, the sweet taste spread on the tip of the tongue.
With just a small scissor and the garden owner's gentle guidance, you can feel the richness of the fruit right in your arms. It is a feeling that no glass of orange juice or a photo can replace."
Not only picking fruit, visitors can also visit the processing area, learn how to classify and store oranges before putting them on the market. In particular, the journey to Cao Phong also makes many people excited about the experience of Muong culture, rustic meals with sticky rice and sticky rice dyed with forest leaves, charcoal grilled pork, stream fish, chicken cooked with sour bamboo shoots... and the ancient story resounds in the space of a warm stilt house.
Developing experiential tourism associated with green agriculture
These days, the yellow color of Cao Phong orange stalls is shining along National Highway 6. The orange boxes have traceability stamps and clear growing area codes, showing positive changes in local production thinking.
The entire old Cao Phong district currently has about 1,700 hectares of oranges and tangerines. Cao Phong commune alone has nearly 500 hectares, of which 186.61 hectares are being harvested. This year's output is estimated at 3,300 tons. Orange prices are stable, from 45,000 - 60,000 VND/kg for Canh oranges and 25,000 - 30,000 VND/kg for yellow oranges.
According to Mr. Hoang Minh Hieu - Chairman of Cao Phong Commune People's Committee, the locality is focusing on implementing the Bacon tree replanting project, ensuring the quality of the growing area is maintained sustainably for many years to come. At the same time, urgently prepare for the 2025 Cao Phong Orange Festival combined with the Ethnic Minority Products Exhibition Fair - a golden opportunity to promote local agricultural products.
Experiencing Cao Phong orange garden is not only a journey to enjoy the flavors of specialties. It is also an opportunity to understand more deeply about how to do civilized farming of mountainous people. Each round orange is the sweat, the desire to preserve a typical agricultural product brand of those attached to the land of Muong.
