After chopping down over ten lychee trees to make space for his wife to grow vegetables, Mr. Hoang Van Thoi (born in 1966, Vang village, Thanh Hai commune, Luc Ngan district, Bac Giang province) greeted his guests: “Come in to see the lychees, but there won’t be any this year. We’ve lost everything.”
Mr. Hoang Van Thoi, who has been growing lychees for 40 years, said he has never seen a season as bad as this.
A Sad ‘Record’
Mr. Thoi sighed and said that his family started growing lychees in 1986. But in nearly 40 years, he had never seen a season where his lychee orchard was almost completely fruitless like this year.
According to Mr. Thoi, with over 300 lychee trees in full production, his family would normally harvest about 15 – 17 tons of lychees each year, earning them an income of nearly 300 million dong. However, this year, he estimated that the lychee harvest would only be in kilograms, enough only to feed his family and give to relatives.
“There are no flowers at all, only young shoots. You can hardly see any fruit in the whole orchard,” Mr. Thoi said sadly.
The nearly 40-year-old lychee trees that were recently chopped down by Mr. Thoi lie scattered in the corner of the orchard.
According to Mr. Thoi, at this time of year, every member of his family would be busy tending to the lychee trees, watering, fertilizing, and spraying them to protect the trees and promote fruit growth, ensuring the best possible quality. He even had to hire extra help at times due to the heavy workload.
“This year, there’s nothing to do in the orchard. Instead of preparing for the harvest, I’ve just been pruning the branches, hoping for a better season next year. We’ve been waiting all year for the lychee harvest, hoping to earn a few hundred million more, but now we’ve lost everything,” Mr. Thoi said sadly.
Not only Mr. Thoi’s lychee orchard, but almost all the lychee orchards in the area are in the same condition, with only a few trees showing signs of fruiting.
According to Mr. Thoi and other farmers in Luc Ngan district, the reason for the lack of fruit on the lychee trees is the unusual weather this year. “This winter was warm, with no prolonged cold spells. When the trees were in bloom, there was excessive rainfall, which caused the flowers to wither and promoted the growth of young shoots, preventing the flowers from developing into fruit,” Mr. Thoi said.
The reason why the lychee trees are not bearing fruit is due to the unusual weather this year.
Mr. Ngo Van Lien, Director of Thanh Hai Agricultural Cooperative (HTX), said that in Thanh Hai commune, lychee production has decreased by 80-90% compared to last year, with many orchards losing almost everything.
“In 2023, the HTX’s nearly 50 hectares yielded over 400 tons of lychees, but this year we’re only getting 10-20% of that. Many businesses had signed contracts to purchase the lychees before the trees even blossomed, but now that they see the trees aren’t producing any fruit, they’ve had to cancel the contracts,” Mr. Lien said.
Lychee production in Thanh Hai commune has decreased by 80-90% compared to last year, with many orchards losing almost everything.
According to Mr. Lien, in the dozens of years of lychee cultivation, this is the first time that the people of Thanh Hai commune have seen a season where the lychee trees have not blossomed. Therefore, the villagers have no experience in dealing with or overcoming this situation.
In the dozens of years of lychee cultivation, this is the first time that the people of Thanh Hai commune have seen a season where the lychee trees have not blossomed.
Meanwhile, Mr. Vu Van Men (Quy Son commune, Luc Ngan district), who owns over 200 lychee trees that have been selected for many years to produce organic lychees for export, said that despite doing everything he could to save the lychee blossoms, his orchard’s fruit yield still dropped by 50%.
According to Mr. Men, as soon as he noticed the unusual weather conditions, he sprayed the lychee trees with fungicides. Despite his best efforts to preserve the blossoms, he was unable to help the trees produce the desired yield.
Despite doing everything he could to save the lychee blossoms, Mr. Vu Van Men’s orchard still saw a 50% drop in fruit production.
“The time when the trees are in bloom is very important. I often have to
