Although it is not her first time going to Moc Chau and not her first time visiting the plum garden this year, Ms. Le Thi Thu Lan (Me Linh, Hanoi) is still eagerly preparing for her interesting experience. When she learned that the plum garden was at the peak season, she spent time in Son La to avoid missing the moment of sinking under the leaves while bearing fruit.
The sweet taste of plums
waking up at 5am, Ms. Lan started moving from the motel area to Na Ka valley. With a fresh and radiant face, the female tourist excitedly arranged her personality.
At 5:30 am, when the new sun appeared, she was ready for her experience. At that time, it was quite early, the garden was still deserted, only a few people were picking plums. The cool weather, gentle sunshine, and just enough light make visitors avoid sweating and avoid getting lost in the eye.
Ms. Lan said: "This year's flower season is in full bloom and is covered in white; therefore, the plum season is also fruitless. The fruit is big, crispy, sweet, and sour. I myself have taken quite a few satisfactory photos in the plum garden.
Not only taking souvenir photos, not just picking main plums by hand, Ms. Lan enjoyed beautiful moments in the plum garden in the early morning. According to the female tourist, the plums have ripened a lot, so tourists do not need to follow shares on social networks, see which garden is suitable and can buy tickets to the gate to avoid crowded gardens, it is difficult to choose a photo area or the fruit has been picked a lot.
Ms. Luong Hai Yen - owner of Hai Yen plum garden revealed that at this time, the garden welcomes an average of 300 - 400 visitors per day. On weekends, the number of visitors will increase to about 1,000. Many tourists visit the garden in the form of a tour; however, tourists traveling on the tour often only visit, pick and experience the plum garden for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then follow other schedules.
For independent tourists, Ms. Yen also creates many other experiences for tourists to stay in the plum garden longer such as camping services, lunch services, renting ethnic minority items, taking photos... The entrance fee is 40,000 VND/person, and plums are sold in the garden for 30,000 - 40,000 VND/kg.
On the weekend, the number of visitors coming to experience the plum garden, according to Mr. Vu Trung Hai - owner of Bich Hanh plum garden, is much higher than the number of visitors coming during the week. As a young person returning to his hometown to take on family work and tourism, Mr. Hai has taken advantage of social networking platforms as well as combined many other services to serve tourists in the plum garden to attract and promote the hometown's "smokeless" tourism industry.
Personally, I promote my family's travel brand on popular platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Zalo. At the same time, recently, local authorities and gardeners have coordinated to invite influential people on social networks to spread the pristine beauty of Son La nature, Mr. Hai shared.
In addition, the young garden owner also explained the plum season in different areas in Son La province. Therefore, the plums in his garden area, located in Moc Chau district, are in the early season.
It is estimated that this year's plum season will last until early September. Because this year's Lunar calendar has a 1-month advantage, plums will ripen later than the same period in previous years.
Current worries of farmers
Mr. Hai added: Most tourists just want to visit, pick and eat plums in the garden. During the plum blossom season, there is a high demand for independent photographers at a cost of 500,000 VND/person. In the wrong plum season, this demand of tourists has also decreased, the cost is lower, only 300,000 VND/person.
Moreover, in the summer, tourists will prefer to go to the sea rather than go to the mountains. Therefore, the total number of visitors staying at our homestay in our garden is only 30% compared to the tourist season, usually starting from fall and lasting until spring.
Tourism revenue has decreased, but at the same time, the fear of a low season is present for plum growers in Son La. From his own observation, Mr. Hai revealed that plum prices this year have decreased by up to 50% compared to last year. In previous years, his garden sold about 8 - 10 thousand tons, earning 8 - 10 million VND/ton. However, this year's revenue is only about 3 - 5 million VND.
Having been attached to plum trees for more than 10 years, Ms. Tran Thi Hien (Moc Chau town) said that this year's plum price has decreased from 60,000 - 100,000 VND/kg (at the time of off-season plum) to 15,000 - 40,000 VND/kg (at the beginning of the crop) and is currently only about 3,000 - 5,000 VND/kg.
Meanwhile, the production cost for 1 hectare of plums not including wages is about 80 million VND/ha. With the current situation, her family no longer hires pickers to save costs.
Ms. Yen expressed: "This year's Son La plum season has brought fruit late, coinciding with the Bac Giang lychee season. Therefore, plum consumption is also more difficult when consumers have many options for fruits. However, according to my observation, Moc Chau plums are still exported evenly to large unit markets in provinces and cities, and purchasing activities are still taking place normally every day".
At the Agricultural Development Service Cooperative 19-5, plum products such as ginger dried plums, honey dried plums, herbal dried plums, etc. are being focused on processing and packaging finished products. This is also a way to reduce the pressure on farmers to consume fresh fruit.
After being carefully selected, separated, and cleaned using ozone technology, the ripe plums will be included in the preliminary processing stage according to a separate regulation. This method helps prevent the plums from fermenting and still retain the original nutrients.
On average, the Cooperative purchases about 10 tons of plums per day at an average price of 5,000 - 8,000 VND/kg for processing. This activity has contributed to creating stable output for plum growing households. Currently, in Son Lan, there is a facility processing honey-dried plums, ginger-dried plums, and herbal-dried plums that meet 4-star OCOP standards.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, Vice Chairman of Moc Chau Town People's Committee - said that currently, for the area of plums grown according to organic standards, the town government will work with a unit specializing in wine production. This solution both supports a stable source of consumption for people and invests in processing wine from plums for domestic export and consumption.
The People's Committee of Son La province has also issued a document to the Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Environment to select a supplier and prepare 2,000kg of plums to provide free meals on Vietnam Airlines flights.
All of these plums are quality-inspected to ensure food safety and hygiene certification standards, VietGAP, GlobalGAP to introduce, promote, and provide in meals on Vietnam Airlines flights.
The use of Son La star fruit on Vietnam Airlines flights to serve tourists' meals and export to many countries around the world is a lever to help people actively produce, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty.
