Son La’s series of ‘million dollar’ crops

Market lessons

In early July, the Steering Committee 598 organized a preliminary meeting of the first 6 months of the year on production, processing, consumption, and export of agricultural products in Son La province. At the meeting, many impressive results were announced. In spite of some negative effects from the weather, the area of fruit trees in Son La province still exceeds 84,000 ha, and the total consumption output reaches nearly 190,000 tons, bringing a value of approximately VND 2,500 billion.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Cong, Vice Chairman of the Son La Provincial People’s Committee, calculated: In this crop, strawberry reached over 7,300 tons, earning more than VND 502 billion; plum reached nearly 50,000 tons, earning more than VND 851 billion; and longan, banana, pineapple, and mango are also at the end of the crop. The target of agricultural product exports exceeding the milestone of USD 177.6 million in 2023 and reaching USD 186 million in 2024 is very feasible.

In the first 6 months of this year, many new markets for Son La’s agricultural products were opened, and many typical fruits and vegetables of Son La were exported for the first time. At the beginning of the year, dragon fruit from Ngoc Hoang Agricultural Cooperative (Na Bo commune, Mai Son district) was exported to the Scottish market. Next, also through Ngoc Hoang Agricultural Cooperative, 5 tons of red-fleshed dragon fruits from cooperative members in Chieng Pha commune (Thuan Chau district) were officially exported to the Italian market.

Most recently, 10 tons of Son La plums from Noong Pieu Indigenous Agricultural Cooperative (Phieng Khoai commune, Yen Chau district) became the first Vietnamese unit to bring plums to the market in European countries such as Germany, the UK, France, and the Czech Republic.

According to the Vice Chairman of the Son La Provincial People’s Committee, in total for the first 6 months of the year, Son La’s fruit tree output for export reached about 12,200 tons with an estimated value of approximately VND 82 billion. Of which, some products that have opened the market in previous years are gradually becoming Son La’s strong export products, such as mango (7,600 tons), banana (4,560 tons), and passion fruit (37 tons). Along with a number of other “million dollar” agricultural products such as coffee, tea, and cassava, they are contributing to the strong growth of Son La’s agriculture. 

“With a large area, huge raw material areas, and many different types of fruit trees, Son La province identifies the two biggest bottlenecks, namely processing and market. Therefore, in parallel with the task of attracting investment to build deep processing factories, the entire political system of Son La has jointly contributed with the business community and cooperatives to build brands and find markets for agricultural products, especially Son La fruit trees,” said Mr. Nguyen Thanh Cong.

Whenever there is an opportunity to connect and exchange promotional information or to attend domestic and foreign exhibitions and fairs, Son La people will go on the road. Mr. Cong said that a few days ago, when hearing that there was an international delegation in Hanoi wanting to learn about Son La’s agricultural products, the Vice Chairman of the province immediately went to the capital to attend the meeting and then traveled more than 300 km back to the province at midnight to participate in the meeting the next morning.

Bui Phuong Thanh (Noong Pieu Indigenous Agricultural Products Cooperative, one of Son La’s bright spots in terms of exporting agricultural products) excitedly said, “The market for plum and mango is still very vast. Market standards are becoming increasingly strict, requiring the entire production chain to join hands to be able to compete with others. Without promoting our products and knowing how to approach the market, we cannot increase their value.”

For Bui Phuong Thanh’s Noong Pieu Indigenous Agricultural Cooperative, this year is a miracle, but the founder says it is just the beginning. With an area of over 30 ha and 150 ha of linkage, after 10 tons exported to the EU, a series of other markets such as China, Japan, South Korea, and the US are also giving positive feedback about the Cooperative’s Son La Ruby plum product.

“Son La plums are being sold in the European market at a price of VND 250,000–300,000/kg. Son La province currently has approximately 12,500 ha of plum farming, with an annual output of over 81,000 tons. If we do a good job with the growing area code, the production process meeting standards, and the market opening, the value of Son La plums will certainly increase tremendously,” said Bui Phuong Thanh.

This year’s early longan crop of Song Ma was affected by prolonged drought, with output decreasing by about 50% compared to previous years. In addition to the longan area of nearly 8,000 ha, there are also more than 1,800 ha of mango, 312 ha of banana, 112 ha of plum, and 117 ha of pineapple. According to the Director of Ngoan Hau Cooperative, to meet market standards, especially export markets, in recent times, it seems that the whole Son La province has jointly gone to fairs, built growing area codes, and established cooperatives.

“Wherever in Hanoi, Saigon, or fruit festivals in other provinces, even in Laos, China, etc., were Son La people seen to introduce and promote their products. Recently, the province has continuously organized festivals and forums for local agricultural product consumption, participated in e-commerce platforms, and invited ‘hot tiktokers’ and ‘hot facebookers’ to participate in selling products with people,” Bui Ngoan Hau said. 

“Son La will continue to build raw material areas, issue and maintain growing area codes, and link chains, because that is the ‘passport’ for the province’s agricultural products to go to the world,” affirmed Mr. Nguyen Thanh Cong.

The district earned over USD 31 million from agricultural product exports

One of the most pioneering localities in building large raw material areas, developing growing area codes, and promoting agricultural product exports in Son La province is Mai Son.

Mr. Nguyen Khac Hao, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mai Son District, said: As of now, Mai Son has more than 11,200 ha of fruit trees, of which more than 4,200 ha are implemented in the direction of applying high technology, 1,800 ha of organic production, and 1,100 ha of production according to VietGAP standards.

Since the beginning of the year, the business community, cooperatives, and ethnic people in Mai Son have harvested over 45,000 tons of fruits of all kinds, sold domestically for more than VND 766 billion. Along with coffee, Mai Son district’s fruits made a great contribution to USD 31.8 million earned from exported agricultural products.

“Mai Son now has an uncountable number of billionaires of fruit trees,” said the Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mai Son District. That is Bui Van Loc, Director of Bao Khanh Construction and Agriculture Cooperative, who harvests 4-5 tons of Thai custard apples/day and sells them for VND 100,000/kg. Or that is Nguyen Dinh Lam (Director of Tan Thao Cooperative), who earns VND 1 billion/ha of strawberries.

According to the Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mai Son district, the most important thing is that the cooperative development movement in Mai Son has spread very strongly. Farmers and the business community are working with the locality to build fruit trees to become the district’s main industry.

As of June 2024, Son La province has been maintaining 218 growing area codes and 10 packaging facility codes, including 211 export codes to China, Australia, the US, etc., with an area of more than 3,000 ha. At the same time, granting certification marks for a series of typical products such as “Song Ma Longan,” “Son La Longan,” “Son La Pineapple,” “Son La Mango,” “Son La Dragon Fruit,” “Son La Plum,” etc.