(VOVWORLD) - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been increasingly difficult to trade and export agricultural products. Businesses in Son La province are promoting the processing and preserving of fruits to reduce the emphasis on fresh fruit sales, create added values, and open up more foreign markets. Dragon eye longans are among the first fruits to hop on this trend.
 Sorting and peeling longans before drying (Photo: Tran Long/VOV) |
Last September Nguyen Duc Tuan and some of his friends established the Son La Fruit Import-Export Company, specializing in processing and preserving fruits and vegetables. Longans were their first product.
Tuan, the company’s Deputy Director, said they bought 5 drying ovens modified not to burn charcoal in the traditional way.
He said the modified ovens produce more even heat in the drying chamber, without carbon dioxide clinging to the fruit as it does in traditional ovens.
They guarantee the color, hygiene, and safety of their longans to meet the requirements of demanding markets like Russia, Taiwan (China) and the increasingly demanding Chinese market.
“The pandemic complications this year have made fresh fruits more difficult to sell, so the company has applied deep processing and clean drying technology to secure sales to quality supermarket chains in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries and to demanding markets further away,” said Tuan.
 The production process ensures epidemic safety and food hygiene. (Photo: Tran Long/VOV)
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Covering 8,000 square meters, the processing facility of Son La Fruit Import-Export Company in Chieng Sinh ward, Son La City, includes an area for drying ovens and a separate area for product sorting and packing. Workers wear protective clothing, gloves, and masks to ensure pandemic safety and food hygiene.
Phan Thi Hanh, who works for the company, said, “My family has one hectare of longans which can’t be sold during this pandemic season. But fortunately, the company purchased all of our longans and gave me a job here. The average salary, nearly 310 USD per month, is enough for my family to survive on during this pandemic.”
The company is promoting a brand called “Mat Rong” (Dragon’s Eye) that includes both fresh longan and dried longan.
This year the company has purchased more than 3,000 tons of VietGAP fresh longan for processing.
 Son La Fruit Exports-Imports Company sells 200 tons of longans this harvest, half of which were dried and exported to foreign markets. (Photo: Tran Long/VOV) |
To date, about 200 tons of fresh longan and 100 tons of dried longan have been sold to China at more than 6 USD a kilo. 35 full-time jobs have been created and 100 other people have been given seasonal work despite the pandemic.
Nguyen Thi Hong, one of the company’s seasonal workers, said, “I’ve been peeling longans for two years, earning more than 13 USD a day. That’s enough to meet our daily living expense during this pandemic.”
Linking businesses, cooperatives, and farmers in Son La has created a sustainable production-processing-trading chain that has helped the province adapt to the difficult circumstances created by the pandemic.