These days, all villages and sub-areas in Yen Chau commune are bustling with the atmosphere of harvesting round mangoes. From early morning, people have gone to the hills to pick fruit, sort, package and then transport it to purchasing points to serve traders and customers who place orders.
Yen Chau commune currently has 1,519 hectares of mangoes of all kinds such as round mangoes, smelly mangoes, with an output of about 12,110 tons per year.
Riêng xoài tròn có hơn 500ha, sản lượng bình quân trên 3.000 tấn quả. Đây là giống xoài bản địa nổi tiếng với hương thơm đặc trưng, vị ngọt đậm và thời gian thu hoạch ngắn, chỉ kéo dài khoảng một tháng.
In Met Sai village, Mr. Quang Van Bun's family - a member of Xuan Tien Agricultural Cooperative (HTX), is busy sorting freshly harvested mangoes. His family has 4ha of mangoes, including ancient mangoes and grafted mangoes planted from 2017.
Mr. Bun said that in the past, many areas of mango fruit were small, and the quality was uneven, so the selling price was low. Since joining the cooperative, the family has been instructed on techniques for pruning, grafting original varieties, and caring for them according to VietGAP procedures, so the yield and quality of fruit have increased significantly.
This year, my family plans to harvest more than 40 tons of mangoes. In the first batch of the season alone, about 10 tons have been sold, the price fluctuates from 25,000-30,000 VND/kg, so I am very excited," Mr. Bun said.
Also in Kha village, Mr. Quang Van Muon's mango garden with nearly 200 7-year-old mango trees is entering the peak ripening stage. On average, the family harvests about 6 tons of fruit each year, bringing in a stable income.
Xuan Tien Agricultural Cooperative currently has 38 members, developing about 60ha of mangoes, including 20ha of ancient mangoes and 40ha of newly planted mangoes. Each year, the Cooperative supplies about 300 tons of fruit to the market.
Mr. Quang Van Xuan - Director of Xuan Tien Agricultural Cooperative said that to maintain the "Yen Chau Round Mango" brand, the cooperative propagates to members to preserve ancient mango trees, and at the same time graft varieties from selected original trees. Households are also encouraged to produce in the organic, VietGAP direction to improve product quality.
Mangoes are boxed and labeled with traceability stamps, so customers are more assured. Since the beginning of the season, the Cooperative has purchased and consumed nearly 100 tons of mangoes, at a price higher than last year by about 3,000-5,000 VND/kg," Mr. Xuan said.
According to Mr. Xuan, the harvest time for round mangoes is quite short, so members have to mobilize more manpower to deliver goods in time. The harvested mangoes are consumed as soon as they are harvested.
The reputation of Yen Chau round mangoes continues to be promoted through trade promotion programs, agricultural product fairs and tourism events of Son La province. Recently, at the Son La Cultural Tourism Festival held in Moc Chau, Xuan Tien Cooperative consumed more than 4 tons of mangoes after only 4 days of display.
Since 2012, "Yen Chau Round Mango" has been granted a geographical indication certificate. The locality has planned planting areas in the Sap Vat, Chieng Pan and Vieng Lan areas to preserve and develop specialty mango varieties.
Mr. Nguyen Van Huong - Vice Chairman of Yen Chau Commune People's Committee said that the locality is promoting the building of agricultural product brands, encouraging people to link production through cooperatives. Currently, the whole commune has 32 agricultural cooperatives operating.
Building a brand for round mangoes is a long process to build trust with consumers, improve competitiveness and expand consumption markets," Mr. Huong said.
