Bac Giang grapefruits exported to Russia

Updated: 09:29, 26/12/2020

(BGO) - At the end of November, the Kim Hang Luc Ngan Organic Agricultural Technology Joint Stock Company (Kim Hang Company) exported 36,000 sweet red-flesh grapefruits to Russia for the first time. This is a good sign, creating links in producing pomelo for export.

Joy to both businesses, farmers

For nearly a month, the people in Lang village, Binh Son commune (Luc Nam district) have not stopped discussing their village’s grapefruit export to the West. The first person who enjoys the joy is Nguyen Van Tru, because all the first batch of grapefruit exported to Russia was from his family. The joy was even more widespread when Kim Hang Company continued to buy more than 200,000 sweet red-flesh grapefruits from 11 other households in Lang village for export and domestic consumption.

Do Thi Hang, Director of Kim Hang Company, supervises the grapefruit harvest at the garden of Nguyen Van Thai's family in Lang village, Binh Son commune (Luc Nam).

Nguyen Van Thai, also residing in the village, shared that his family has more than 1 hectare with 800 grapefruit trees, half of which are sweet red-flesh grapefruit, the rest are yellow-flesh grapefruit. The output of each type is about 40,000 fruits. In previous years, the selling, price and harvesting time all depended on traders. They cut and chose the first-grade fruits for high prices, while the remaining second- and third-grade fruits were sold at very low prices. In many crops, the harvest time lasted for one month, affecting the production process of the next crop. But this crop was different as Kim Hang Company ordered the whole garden of his family. Although this year, the price was only 10,500 VND per fruit (lower than the price of first-grade grapefruit in the previous years), the total revenue increased by tens of millions VND. Moreover, in just one day, the family's grapefruit garden was harvested completely, which is very convenient for pruning and nourishing the trees for the next crop.

According to Do Thi Hang, Director of Kim Hang Company, the grapefruit gardens purchased by the company met the criteria set by the Russian side. Grapefruits are produced according to an organic and environmentally friendly process, with sugar content satisfying the requirements, and pesticide residues meeting export standards for export to Russia...

“When receiving the order from the Russian side, we were quite worried because we did not know which suitable gardens to choose. We had information about sweet red-flesh pomelo growing areas in Luc Ngan, but some competent agencies here were not enthusiastic. Luckily, when we come to the Bac Giang Plant Protection and Cultivation Department, everything from the introduction of the production area to the quarantine and customs clearance was done, we were very satisfied”, Hang said.

Always ready for exporting grapefruits

Although grapefruit supplies meeting requirements were found, the Russian side requested the fruit weight to range from 1.4 kg to 1.6 kg. Meanwhile, the number of fruits meeting this standard accounted for only 15 percent in each orchard. Therefore, Kim Hang Company had to purchase large quantities to choose enough fruits for export. For grapefruits that were not qualified, the company had to sell them in wholesale markets or process them into jam or wine.

In just one day, the 40,000-fruit pomelo garden of Thai’s family was harvested.

Due to the high quality of Bac Giang pomelo, the Russian partner continued to sign a contract with the Kim Hang Company to supply the product for the next 5 years. To improve the fruit quality, the Russian enterprise has authorized Kim Hang Company to build an organic production model meeting the process given by the partner on an area of about 10 hectares.

Currently, the company has linked with 10 households in Lang village, and proposed relevant agencies of the province consider, research and allow application of the pomelo production process that this enterprise requires. Hang informed that "On January 2, we will export another 36,000 grapefruits, all of which are purchased in Luc Nam district".

Bac Giang has more than 10,000 hectares of citrus trees, with an output of nearly 80,000 tonnes per year, ranking 4th in the country. Grapefruit output alone reached about 30,000 tonnes per year.

According to Le Ba Thanh, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Russia is a big market that is not demanding. However, orange and grapefruit are not regional specialties but popular fruits in Vietnam. Bac Giang holds an advantage as locals are applying science - technology and clean process in agricultural production, meeting the top requirement of quality: food safety and hygiene. That is the reason why the Russian side chose the grapefruit of Bac Giang.

He said that the citrus production orientation of the province is not to increase the area, but to focus on improving the quality of existing production areas, creating uniform products in quality and appearance. Grapefruit is produced following organic and environmentally friendly processes. Currently, Bac Giang's agricultural products have been exported to Japan, the US, Australia, Russia, China ... so it is quite convenient for the province to export their products to other countries. Therefore, people, specialized agencies and local governments must take the initiative and stand ready for export. By doing this well, Bac Giang's agricultural products, especially grapefruit and citrus, will develop sustainably.

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