Hundreds of tons of fruit waiting to be consumed

According to statistics from the Economic Department of Phuc Tho district, the district currently has 756 hectares of grapefruit, concentrated in the communes of Van Ha, Van Nam, Van Phuc, Hiep Thuan, Lien Hiep, Trach My Loc... In recent years, the grapefruit cultivation area has had stable productivity and quality.

Entering the last months of the year, fruits are ripe. Currently, in the 3 communes with the largest grapefruit growing areas in Phuc Tho district, including Van Nam, Van Ha and Xuan Dinh, the area that needs support for consumption connection is 90 hectares, with a quantity of about 1.3 million fruits, mainly two varieties of grapefruit Phuc Tho and grapefruit Tam Van.

Mr. Cao Van Ngan - Director of Huong Buoi Cooperative (Van Ha commune), said that grapefruit consumption is becoming more and more difficult due to the high competition in the market. For example, his family, which used to earn 600 - 700 million VND from grapefruit each year, only earned 400 million VND in the most recent year (2023).

In addition to grapefruit, bananas are also the main fruit of Phuc Tho district. The whole district currently has 195 hectares of bananas, cultivated in the communes of Van Nam, Xuan Dinh, Van Phuc, Hat Mon, etc. Currently, many banana areas managed by Van Nam Banana Cooperative have been and are being harvested with high productivity.

Director of the Van Nam Banana Cooperative (Phuc Tho District) Doan Van Thang said that for many years, Van Nam banana products have been evaluated by consumers as having beautiful fruit appearance and delicious quality. With the support of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Van Nam bananas have been widely promoted and introduced; currently, they have penetrated into a number of distribution channels, schools, etc.

“From a few hundred bananas in previous years, we are now consuming tens of thousands of bananas every day. At the end of the year, cooperative members are harvesting and the total expected banana output to be connected for consumption is about 300 - 350 tons…” - Mr. Doan Van Thang shared.

Quality is the key

In recent years, the development and expansion of grapefruit and banana growing areas has received special attention from Phuc Tho district. The scale of the area, after a period of expansion to its full potential, is now gradually stabilizing. People are also paying more attention to improving quality.

Head of the Economic Department of Phuc Tho District Can Van Hong said that in order to support the consumption of two main fruit products, grapefruit and banana, in 2015, the district cooperated with the Department of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology) to successfully build the collective brand "Phuc Tho Grapefruit". At the end of 2016, "Van Nam Banana" was granted a trademark certificate by the Department of Intellectual Property. By 2019, "Tam Van Grapefruit" was also granted a trademark registration certificate.

To support the consumption of grapefruit and bananas for farmers, Phuc Tho district recently coordinated with the Hanoi Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development to bring a number of businesses to survey the growing areas and connect to promote trade. After the field visit, the two businesses signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in consuming key fruit products with 4 cooperatives, production entities of Phuc Tho district.

According to Nguyen Thanh Trung, Deputy Head of the Hanoi Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development, the city currently has 20,000 hectares of fruit trees; initially, concentrated fruit tree production areas have been formed, including grapefruit and banana areas in Phuc Tho district.

In recent times, the Department has connected businesses, distribution units, supermarket chains, fruit store systems in Hanoi with producers, cooperatives, and farmers in localities, including Phuc Tho district, to increase support for the consumption of agricultural products in general, helping to solve the problem of output support for farmers.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung also emphasized: consumers today are increasingly "picky" and have many choices. Therefore, improving the quality of fruits is a prerequisite, so as not to be overwhelmed by imported fruits. At the same time, he hopes that businesses will continue to pay attention to and support the consumption of agricultural products in general, and fruits in particular, for Hanoi farmers.