Lychee began being grown in Luc Ngan in the late 1980s. Thanks to diligence and hard work, the local people have turned these arid hills into lychee hills, bringing warmth and abundance.
Although lychee originally came from Thanh Ha (Hai Duong province), when it was transferred to Luc Ngan area, it was suitable for the soil, and it has since blossomed and produced a sweet and fragrant fruit.
"Although they belong to the same lychee variety in Thanh Ha, when grown here, with different care and soil conditions, the taste of the Luc Ngan lychee fruit is somewhat sweeter, with thick pulp, smaller seeds and more fragrance than elsewhere," Tran Bich (Luc Ngan district, Bac Giang province) shared.
Luc Ngan people often harvest lychee from around 3 am to deliver to traders in time to be transported to the market.
The lychee is bundled into large bunches of about 2 to 3 kg each.
In order to facilitate trading, lychee growers often hire people to carry lychee to the market to be weighed for traders.
“This year, the Luc Ngan region also implemented isolation measures, so we are very careful when contacting traders. Most of farmers hire people to transport them to fixed points for sale,” said Nguyen Thi Hue (Luc Ngan, Bac Giang).
“My family has about 300 lychee trees, so harvesting takes a long time, I mobilise all my family members to harvest lychees for orders as well as to be weighed for traders. That is also creating jobs for some family members who do not have work due to the social distancing because of the Covid 19 epidemic "said Hue.
Traders go to the gardens to buy lychee.
In the garden, the price of lychee is from VND15,000 to VND20,000 per kilograme depending on the quality.
“This year, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the price of lychee is somewhat higher due to difficulties in transportation. Half of the consumption volume from localities also increased sharply due to the movement to support the consumption of agricultural products for people in epidemic areas," said lychee trader Nguyen Van Truong.
“Express” motobikes deliver the lychee to the purchasing points.
Motorcycles carry lychee from Luc Nam district through Tong Lenh pontoon bridge to wholesale markets in Luc Ngan district to sell to traders.
At peak time, the two roads leading down to the bridge are jammed, it takes people more than an hour to cross.
Motorbikes line up to carry lychee to the markets.
Purchasing points are always busy with lychee carts.
On National Highway 31, the section of Luc Ngan district that intersects with Luc Nam district, the mobile police guide trucks carrying cloth through the quarantine checkpoint.
According to local regulations, most of the people who transport and purchase the fruit are locals. Traders from other provinces to the district must be tested for Covid-19 and have a negative test certificate issued within 48 hours, and when passing through the commune checkpoints, they have their temperature taken and medical declarations collected.
A purchasing area. Each lychee cart is transported from the garden to the big traders.
The lychees are checked for quality before purchase.
The posters "No price pressure, weight loss and commercial fraud" with hotline phone numbers of district leaders as well as the police are hung everywhere to minimise the situation of farmers being forced to compromise on price.
With purchasing points to export to China, traders arrange workers to chill the lychees to be transferred to border gates.
The lychee is packed into a foam box, 10kg of ice and 18kg of lychee to be transported by cold trucks to the gate.
The brand identity stamp of the Luc Ngan Lychee is pasted on the foam boxes.
In this season, Bac Giang lychees have been exported to Japan, the US, Malaysia, Germany, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia. Recently, the first batch of Bac Giang lychees has also arrived in Czech Republic, which is the first destination in Europe.
