Hanoi farmers busy during mulberry harvesting season

March 17, 2020 - 01:43 PM

Farmers in Hiep Xuan Commune, Hanoi, are busily harvesting the mulberry and expecting huge incomes.

The mulberries

Farmers can be seen working busily across tens of hectares of mulberry gardens. Traders come in and out of the gardens all day long to collect the fruit.

Dinh Thi Lan, a farmer in Hiep Xuan, said her family had about 200 mulberry trees. The traders often come early to wait for the mulberries. Sometimes, the traders have to call to order one to two days in advance. Because of the bountiful harvest, she had to hire more hands to help.

Mulberry prices change frequently from VND16,000 (USD69 US cents) to VND25,000 a kilo. Lan said her family harvested 100-150kg mulberry each day. Some days she was able to harvest up to 200 kilos mulberries and earned VND2m to VND3m a day. It is estimated that she will be able to earn VND50m to VND60m this crop.

Mulberry harvest season in Hanoi

"Techniques are required if you want good-looking mulberries. Because of the Covid-19 outbreak, I received more orders than usual as many people want to make mulberry juice to increase their vitamin intake to boost their immune systems," she said.

Nguyen Thi Khuyen, another farmer in Hiep Xuan, was also in joyful mood due to the good prices. Khuyen's family has raised mulberry for six years. This year she harvested 1.5 tonnes of mulberry and earned VND1.5m (USD65) a day.

Harvesting the mulberries

According to Khuyen, they had to work since early morning until late at night. They have to be careful when harvesting to mulberry because these fruits are easily bruised.

Trader Le Thu Hoai confirmed that more people are buying mulberries at this time. Each of her customers buys 2kg to 5kg each time. Since the harvest season started, she has sold up to 2 tonnes of mulberries.

"I have to call the farmers one to two days in advance. I can only buy 2-3 tonnes of mulberries each time," she said. "Mulberries are being sold at VND40,000 (USD1.7) a kilo."

Source: vietnamnet, dtinews.vn

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