Dai Dong cooperative in Ngoc Luong commune (Yen Thuy district) has cooperated with RYB Agriculture JSC to export the first batch of Dien pomelo to the UK market in late 2022.

The shipment included 9,600 fruits weighing a total of nearly 11 tonnes.

Yen Thuy’s Dien pomelos were sold in the Longdan supermarket chain. The welcome of the Vietnamese community in the European country and local consumers has created a great motivation for pomelo growers.

In this year’s pomelo crop, the provincial sub-department of cultivation and plant protection has promoted support and technical consultancy activities to expand the planting area and improve the quality of pomelo to meet export requirements.

For Nguyen Van Hoa’s family in Thanh Ha village, Thanh Son commune, June is probably the busiest time of the year.

Besides ensuring a sufficient supply of nutrients for the trees, a great worry for pomelo growers like Hoa is how to protect pomelos from insects.

However, this year, his family was instructed to use fruit wrappers to cover young fruit, which can completely prevent insects.

Not only Hoa's family, the 34 member households of the Dien pomelo production cooperative group in Thanh Ha village cultivating nearly 50 ha of Dien pomelo have been also supported by the sub-department in using the technique, which is one of the solutions in the clean pomelo production process deployed by the agency to develop the Dien pomelo growing area for export.

Nguyen Hong Yen, Director of the sub-department, said with the determination to expand the export Dien pomelo growing area, the unit has reviewed and supported farmers to complete the conditions and standards for granting planting area codes, and grow pomelo in line with the clean production process, VietGAP standards, thus ensuring the quality of pomelo for export.

In this year’s crop, the agency has provided 15,000 wrappers and instructed farmers to use organic products so as to increase the sweetness and beauty of the fruit.

According to Vu Xuan Oanh, Director of Dai Dong Agriculture Cooperative, the cooperative has strictly followed the production process as instructed by the experts, thus ensuring food safety standards and the quality of Dien pomelo for export.

Since the late 70s of the last century, when there was a migration from Hanoi to Yen Thuy district, Dien pomelo seedlings were brought there. From the original pomelos, the growing area has been increasing. Currently, the total area under Dien pomelo in the whole province is about 2,300 ha, accounting for 45% of the pomelo area and 22% of citrus fruit tree area of the province. Yen Thuy district alone has over 800 hectares of Dien pomelo. The National Office of Intellectual Property granted the collective trademark of Dien pomelo in Yen Thuy in 2019. Particularly, Dai Dong hamlet, Ngoc Luong commune, grows 110 hectares of Dien pomelo, of which 30 hectares of Dai Dong Agricultural Cooperative have been granted the growing area codes, certified VietGAP and recognised as an OCOP product.

In particular, since 2021, after being granted the growing area code for export orientation, the cultivation of pomelo has become a focus of the people here. The entire growing area is regularly monitored for cultivation, field logs and the occurrence of pests as well as food safety./.