Farmers in Song Ma district are harvesting longans for export. (Photo: VOV)

In recent days, farmers in Song Ma district, Son La province, have been harvesting longans for export to demanding markets like the EU and the UK.

Vi Van Tuan of Na Pan village has 200 grafted longan trees that produce more than 10 tons of big, evenly ripe fruit. Productivity has been much higher this year than last year.

“We’re very happy to have plenty of longans to export. If high yields and high prices continue, we’ll plant more,” said Tuan.

Song Ma district, one of the largest longan growing areas in Vietnam, has more than 7,300 hectares under cultivation and an annual output of 70,000 tons. Most of the longan farms are in the communes along the Ma River.

Despite the COVID-19 epidemic, Song Ma longan products have been exported this year to Australia, the US, China, the EU, and the UK.

Nguyen Van Phuong, Deputy Chairman of the Song Ma district People’s Committee, said, “The successful export of Song Ma longans to the EU and UK has prompted more trees to be planted and advanced technologies to be applied to improve the quality of our longan products to the standards set by foreign importers.”

The Fusa Organic Agriculture Company plans to purchase 60 tons of Hung Yen province’s current longan crop to export to Europe. This will be the first entry of Hung Yen longans into that market.

This achievement was made possible by the growers changing their production methods to meet the requirements of foreign import markets.

Tran Van My, Director of the Quyet Thang Specialty Fruit Cooperative in Tan Hung commune, Hung Yen City, said that all of them are very happy, adding, “If Hung Yen longans can be sold to Europe this year, it will greatly increase the value of our products. We’re proud to deliver Hung Yen's longan products to the world’s most demanding markets. This will also force us to keep improving our farming techniques.”

Hung Yen longans planted in line with VietGAP model turn out high quality and productivity. (Photo: VNA)

Hung Yen’s administration is calling on Vietnamese exporters to agree on ways to purchase the longan crops and instructing cooperatives and growers to strictly follow production standards to ensure the quality of exported products.

Vietnam’s longan-based products have been getting more and more popular lately in China, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, and Europe.

According to Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Trade Promotion Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, “Vietnam’s large, concentrated longan growing areas are mainly in Hung Yen, Son La, Hai Duong, and several other provinces in the Southwestern region. They are working to improve their technology and production methods and develop longan growing areas qualified to obtain export codes.”

Phu added, “The current volume of exported longans is still modest compared to the potential, so there is plenty of room for improvement.”

Vietnamese longans have met traceability and production regulations, quality requirements, and phytosanitary verification requirements set by importers, boosting the reputation of Vietnamese fruits and the incomes of local farmers.