The founder of Xuan Thuy longan brand in Hoa Binh

Clip: Mr. Bui Van Luc in Khoang hamlet, Xuan Thuy commune, Kim Boi district, Hoa Binh province shares techniques for taking care of longan trees.

Xuan Thuy – the longan orchard of Muong land is now changing day by day. The long corn fields of the past have now been replaced by longan orchards as wide as the eye can see, with heavy fruit. Mr. Luc is the one who has contributed to the development and change of production thinking in the whole region.

The day we visited the garden, Mr. Luc’s family was busy harvesting longan. Next to the dark brown stilt house, longan trees were displayed everywhere. Shiny bunches of longan, large fruits were scattered everywhere. Longan harvest season is also the season to count money for Mr. Luc’s family. Behind that eye-catching result is a wise journey of this Muong man.

Picturesque longan gardens "print money" regularly

This year, turning 64, Mr. Luc has also retired and stayed home to devote all his heart to taking care of the longan garden. The Muong man is considered by the locals to be the one who brought the longan growing profession to Xuan Thuy.

The day we visited, Mr. Luc was harvesting longan. The tall, tanned Muong man with silver hair drove a cart full of longan on the village road. As soon as he got home, he quickly wrapped the longan for his customers. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, but Mr. Luc always had a bright smile on his face.

Mr. Bui Van Luc is trimming leaves and removing unsatisfactory longan fruit to prepare for canning for customers. Photo: Pham Hoai.

Mr. Luc’s calloused hands were quick and nimble, and in no time, 10 boxes of longan were packed. The customer who waited at home to buy the goods looked at the box of longan with proper labels and seemed very satisfied. After delivering the goods to the customer, Mr. Luc breathed a sigh of relief.

“Every year, customers come to the garden to buy products. For them, the price of the product is not a problem, the important thing is that we deliver the products with guaranteed quality. This year, the longan output has decreased a bit, but the price is higher,” Mr. Luc said happily.

Before the tea break, Mr. Luc took us to visit the longan garden. In contrast to his leisurely manner when receiving guests, as soon as he stepped into the garden, Mr. Luc became an active and different person. It seemed that taking care of the longan garden was his joy in life.

Each longan tree has a large trunk, branches spreading in all directions, laden with fruit, appearing amidst the clouds and mountains. The longan trees are planted in rows and paths like giant umbrellas stretching to the foot of the mountain. Each bunch of longan hangs down in layers. All day long, Mr. Luc is in the longan garden pruning each bunch of fruit. He gently caresses the bunch of longan as if he were taking care of a child.

“Growing fruit trees is only part of the process. The important thing for gardeners is to prune and care for each tree and each fruit to bring the highest economic efficiency,” said Mr. Luc.

Longan garden of Mr. Bui Van Luc in Khoang hamlet, Xuan Thuy commune. Photo: Pham Hoai.

As Mr. Luc shared, the hundreds of longan trees in the garden are trimmed and cared for very meticulously. Each tree has fruit hanging on it and is shaped very precisely. Each branch and each bunch of longan trees grows evenly as if they were assembled into a puzzle. Under the canopy of longan trees, the grass grows green, Mr. Luc also painstakingly installed an automatic watering system for the trees.

According to Mr. Luc, longan trees have strong vitality and grow very well in Muong land. However, when in the flowering and fruiting period, longan trees need a lot of water, so the garden must always be kept moist for the trees to grow well and give the highest yield.

In the middle of the garden, he also placed a lot of small barrels, where he fermented fish and soybeans to make “food” for the longan garden. The fish and soybeans are fermented with microorganisms, and after a month they become organic fertilizer. Thanks to this fertilizer, the longan garden is green all year round. The longan fruit is of excellent quality.

“The whole year, the garden only composts 300kg of fish and 200kg of soybeans, which is enough to fertilize several hundred trees. The trees are well cared for, so they always produce high yields. This year, I expect to harvest 30 tons of longan, a slightly lower yield than previous years, but this year the price is good. After deducting all expenses, the family earns about 300-400 million VND,” Mr. Luc shared.

Mr. Luc uses fermented fish and soybeans to fertilize longan trees. Photo: Pham Hoai.

Currently, Mr. Luc’s longan garden is chosen for export, so he meticulously records all the longan care processes. For the past several decades, the longan garden has been a steady “money printing machine” for his family. Even happier is that his choice nearly 30 years ago has brought prosperity and abundance to this green land.

The person who helped the longan tree take root on Xuan Thuy land

Mr. Luc was born and raised in a fertile land, but the life of the Muong people encountered many difficulties. At that time, hunger and poverty were still evident in every house. Mr. Luc's family had a very progressive mindset, his father always encouraged his children, wanting to escape poverty sustainably, only by learning to read and write to change their fate.

Being a determined man, when he reached adulthood, instead of staying at home to get married and have children like other Muong men, he devoted himself to studying for the university entrance exam. His efforts were rewarded, the day he received the notice of admission to the Border Guard University, the whole commune was shocked. Because up to now, no one in this commune had ever gone to university.

During his years of training at the military school, Mr. Luc was not fortunate enough to be able to carry his backpack to the border posts to serve his noble duty. In his fourth year at university, his health was not good, so he asked to leave school and return to his hometown. The Muong boy who was once the pride of the entire Xuan Thuy commune returned with an empty backpack, making everyone sad.

At that time, Muong land was still very poor, Mr. Thuy participated in the work of the commune and then he was given the important position of Head of the Commune Cultural Committee. After each term, with his efforts, he was elected as Chairman of the commune and then Secretary of the Party Committee of Xuan Thuy commune.

Thanks to good care, Mr. Luc's longan garden always produces high yields and beautiful fruit. Photo: Pham Hoai.

During his years working in the commune, Mr. Luc always wanted to find a way to change the production mindset of the people. If they continued to grow corn and rice, two crops a year like that, their lives would always revolve around plows and buffaloes, and poverty would continue to reign in this land.

In the early 90s of the 20th century, he boldly went to Hung Yen to look for Huong Chi longan varieties to bring to Muong land. The day he brought the longan varieties back, everyone wondered when would they be able to harvest fruit trees. Mr. Luc had strong faith because the land in his hometown was as fertile as that in Hung Yen. That year, Mr. Luc bought 300 longan trees to plant in his garden. He planted them at the right distance, 8m between trees. For several years, he only saw the trees and the soil, without any harvest.

“That year I bought longan seedlings, each seedling cost 30,000 VND. The total cost of the seedlings “ate” 2 cows of my family. With that amount of money, in this land, not everyone dares to invest. Moreover, they also do not think that longan trees will bring efficiency,” Mr. Luc confided.

Those worries of his family were erased when the longan tree bore fruit in the third year. When peeling the longan, his hands were still shaking because over the past three years, his worries had disappeared. The longan had thick flesh, thin skin, and was as sweet as those in Hung Yen.

By the fourth year, the longan tree grew rapidly and yielded fruit. The orchard bore fruit, but at that time, there were almost no traders in the Muong land to buy it. Mr. Luc picked the longan with a heavy heart. Each crate of longan was shiny, the fruit was big, and sweet, but he did not know where to sell it. That year, he had to rent a truck and transport the longan to Long Bien market (Hanoi) to sell retail. Unexpectedly, Mr. Luc's trip to sell longan opened up a new business direction for the Muong people in Xuan Thuy.

“When I arrived at Long Bien market, I had just opened the trunk of my car when traders came to ask to buy it. They tried the longan and were very satisfied. Instead of having to carry the longan to the market to sell, they came to my garden to buy the longan for over 30,000 VND/kg,” Mr. Luc recalled.

Mr. Luc's family's longan garden was selected for export to European countries. Photo: Pham Hoai.

Each year, the longan garden yielded higher yields. One year, he earned a billion dong from the longan garden. The consumption of longan in those years was extremely favorable. Mr. Luc's success was a great source of encouragement for people here to grow longan.

From a few initial growers, Xuan Thuy has now become the longan orchard of the Muong land. The happiest thing is that Mr. Luc's family's longan orchard was selected to export to European countries.

“Exporting longan will be the main direction for longan orchards to have better harvests. However, to do that, longan growers must strictly follow the regulations on growing and caring for longan. Only when longan growers meet the requirements on design and product, can they hope to change their lives thanks to longan trees,” Mr. Luc confided.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Kim Boi district, the area of ​​longan cultivation in the whole district is about 360 hectares, of which about 180 hectares are in Xuan Thuy commune. The two varieties of longan grown locally are Huong Chi and Mien longan.

Source: https://danviet.vn/nguoi-gay-dung-thuong-hieu-nhan-xuan-thuy-o-hoa-binh-20240801152211713.htm