Hai Duong (VNA) – The lychee and longan crops2020 in the northern province of Hai Duong have been successful beyondexpectation, said Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture andRural Development Tran Van Quan.

During a recent conference reviewing the expansion of lycheeand longan farming cultivation areas up to international standards and farmproduce trade promotion, Quan said the volume of local longan and lychee exportthis year had hit record.

Apart from increasing exports to the US, Australia, theEuropean Union and the Middle East, Hai Duong also succeeded in navigating newdemanding markets such as Singapore and Japan.

Total revenues from this year’s lychee season amounted to1.16 trillion VND, up 445 billion VND from the previous crops. The provinceshipped abroad nearly 1,500 tonnes of lychee out of the total harvest of 43,000tonnes this year.

As for longan, the value of this year’s harvest wasestimated at 120 billion VND.

Hai Duong is now home to 9,750ha of lychees and 2,100ha oflongan fruits. It built 23 lychee and longan cultivation zones meeting VietGAPstandards, he said.

According to Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s CommitteeLuu Van Ban, local agriculture growth was estimated at about 7.4-7.5 percentthis year despite the COVID-19 pandemic, much higher than many years ago.

He also vowed to offer incentives to investors and firmsoperating in agriculture, especially farm produce processing.

Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture andRural Development Tran Van Quan affirmed that the local agriculture sector willcontinue working closely with localities to expand cultivation zones up tointernational standards.

Next year, the sector plans to extend international-standardfarming zones for lychee, longan, guava and vegetables while buildingsustainable connectivity chains to improve their value./.