Price of longan immune from witches broom disease is 2-3 times higher than other varieties

Recently, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Secretary of the Can Tho City Party Committee, led the delegation to visit the organic and biological model of Thanh longan production at Thai Thanh Fruit Cooperative (Co Do district).

Reporting to the delegation, Mr. Ngo Minh Giau, Deputy Director of Thai Thanh Fruit Cooperative, said that the cooperative was established in 2018. As of now, the cooperative has 25 members and has cultivated about 140ha of all kinds of longan, of which the most is the Thanh longan variety. This is a very delicious longan variety originating from Bac Lieu province.

The Thanh longan variety has a lot of advantages, including large fruit, thick flesh, small seeds, being drained, and not being as sweet as Dimocarpus longan because it is just slightly sweet. In particular, Thanh longan is not infected with witches broom disease, a disease that used to haunt longan growers in the Mekong Delta. Thanh longan has a price that is 2-3 times higher than other types of longan. The high price of Thanh longan is also because its output is not much, so after Thanh longan in orchards is harvested, traders and businesses order it for purchase.

According to Mr. Ngo Minh Giau, each year, Thanh longan is harvested from July to September, with an average yield of about 10 tons/ha and a selling price of VND 50,000/kg or more. This helps to bring high economic efficiency to gardeners with approximately 500–600 million VND/ha/year. In addition to domestic consumption, the cooperative's Thanh longan is also exported to a number of countries, including demanding markets such as Japan, the United States, etc.

Discussing with local authorities, cooperative leaders, and members of the Thanh longan growing cooperative, Secretary Nguyen Van Hieu expressed his pleasure when seeing that farmers in Co Do district are active in producing fruit trees according to VietGAP standards, and producing according to organic and biological directions, thereby contributing to creating fruit products good for consumers' health.

The Secretary of the Can Tho City Party Committee said that longan trees are grown in many places, but the Thanh longan variety grown in Co Do district is very tasty and of good quality. Therefore, it is necessary for the local authority and cooperative to discover the peculiarity, thereby building a trademark to promote the Thanh longan products of Thai Thanh Fruit Cooperative. At the same time, authorities need to support the cooperative and cooperative members in connecting with businesses that consume directly, reducing the intermediary stage; continue to invest in developing the cooperative to become stronger and stronger; and attract more cooperative members to join in order to create close linkages between the cooperative's production and consuming enterprises.

Thanh longan was successfully created by Mrs. Tran Kieu (71 years old, commonly known as Thanh), an owner of a large ancient longan garden in Giong Nhan A hamlet, Hiep Thanh commune, Bac Lieu city. The famous and delicious new longan variety is named after Mrs. Thanh, so it's called Thanh longan.