Mango harvest in Son La province begins in May.

In May, many localities in the province have begun to harvest mangos. More than 60,000 tons of mangos will be sold this year. Lo Thi Ly’s family in Chieng Ngan hamlet, Son La city, goes to the field every day to pick mangos. She recalled, “My family has 4 hectares of mangos and expects to harvest 15 tons . Most of our fruit will be exported to China. Only  a small amount will be for domestic market.”

Son La city has more than 4,000 hectares of fruit trees, mainly mangos, plums, and longans. This year, some mango areas have been damaged by bad weather, so the output is expected to decrease. But other fruits are growing well.

Nguyen The Phuong, Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee, said the local administration has taken the initiative in sales connection and promotion for the locals.  

“We have planned trade promotion programs for cooperatives, businesses, and farm households. We’ll strengthen the cooperatives to connect buyers and producers. More attention will be paid to branding products and introducing branded products to the market,” said Phuong.

Son La promotes local fruit products.

Son La province is the second largest fruit producer in Vietnam, with a total growing area of 80,000 hectares. Son La has 11 fruit products protected by geographical indication registration and 25 OCOP fruit products. This year Son La expects an output of 450,000 tons.

Luong Trung Hieu, Chairman of the provincial Farmers' Association, said, “This year, we’ll continue to help farmers market their products by introducing them to the sales channels of the Farmers' Association and other e-commerce platforms. We’ll also work with the Farmers' Associations of provinces and cities, exporters, the Vietnam Post, and the Vietnam Railways Corporation to implement a plan to transport Son La’s agricultural products to central and Central Highlands markets.”

Son La has worked to improve logistics to support domestic sales and exports and increase the competitiveness of local products. Pham Thi Doan, Director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, said the locality has identified logistics as a very important part of promoting farm produce sales.

“The Department will work with other departments and sectors to advise the provincial government in infrastructure planning for logistics development for transport, warehousing, services, human resources, investment attraction, and the development of logistics centers,” said Doan.

This year, Son La province plans to host many large-scale events to promote and sell agricultural products, including the Vietnam Fruit and OCOP Product Festival 2022 and a conference on promoting trade and export of the province’s agricultural products.