Luc Ngan - sleepless nights

BAC GIANG - In the quiet of the night, Luc Ngan farmers begin their work for the new day. With flashlights, they nimbly weave their way into the garden to pick bunches of ripe red lychees to sell early tomorrow morning. Over the past few nights, the locals have been accompanied by the twinkling lights like stars in the middle of the sweet fruit garden - all of which seem to burn with hope for the results after a year of nurturing and waiting for the day of harvest.

White night in the lychee garden

At nearly two in the morning, under the dim moonlight, I crept up the hill with the people of Muoi village, Giap Son commune (Luc Ngan) to pick lychees. The flickering rays of light from the people's flashlights throughout the gardens and hills created a strange effect. The murmur of conversation, the calls to each other mixed with the sound of insects dispelled the silence of the night.

People in Muoi village, Giap Son commune harvest lychee.

Tonight, like many other families in the lychee land, Mr. Tran Van Kien's family of 9 people went up the hill to pick lychees. They brought flashlights, plastic baskets, a motorbike and a few large baskets. Not only the adults, Mr. Kien's grandchildren who were on summer vacation also went up the hill to help pick lychees. Each person did their own job, children and the elderly stayed below to strip leaves, sort, bundle and transfer lychees into baskets, while the faster and stronger people climbed trees to pick lychees and cut stems. In the middle of the night, with only weak light, all the operations were performed quite professionally, so before 5am, the large baskets of lychees were full.

Mr. Kien shared: “My family has more than 270 lychee trees. This year, despite the drought at the beginning of the season, the trees still bear fruit, are beautiful, and sell for a high price. Moreover, the harvest time in my garden is very short (only about 20 days), so my family has to mobilize all the manpower to focus on harvesting. Usually, the whole family has to go pick lychees from 2 am, on average, we sell about 700 kg in one morning.”

When the lychee basket weighs 300 kg, Mr. Kien drives his motorbike about 4 km to the weighing point in Phi Dien town to sell to traders. According to the experience of Mr. Kien and lychee growers in Luc Ngan, early harvesting helps the fruit look better, fresher and tastier, which is convenient for traders who often import goods early in the morning. Therefore, with the same lychee garden, if they sell late, traders have already collected enough goods, the lychee price is often lower, even difficult to sell. Harvesting at night also helps avoid the harsh, intense heat of summer. This year, lychee has a good harvest, the quality is relatively uniform, no stem worms, and the appearance is more beautiful. With a basket of early lychee of about 300 kg, Mr. Kien sells it for 28,000 VND/kg, earning more than 8 million VND.

People in Muoi village, Giap Son commune, use lamps to harvest lychees.

In the field below, when the moon has set and the sky is getting light, it is also the time when Mr. Truong Van Hai's family, also from Muoi village, prepares to transport nearly 200 kg of lychee to the weighing point on Highway 31 to sell to traders for export. To have this basket of lychee, all 3 members of Mr. Hai's family stayed up all night. "After selling the first batch, we will go home to have breakfast and take a nap, and at around 3 pm, we will go back to the garden to pick another batch to sell in the afternoon to the pick-up trucks that come to the village to buy and sell domestically. We work hard all year long to take care of it, but there are only more than 20 days to harvest. If we don't do it quickly, the lychee will lose its shape, even rot and fall off, so no matter how tired we are, we have to try our best," Mr. Hai shared.

Picking lychees at night, farmers face difficulties and dangers such as broken branches when climbing trees, mosquito and insect bites, and even dangerous rain and wind, thunder and lightning... However, under seasonal pressure, every family must arrange manpower or hire more people to quickly harvest lychees, and at the same time have plans to provide protective gear such as clothes, shoes, gloves, raincoats... to serve the lychee picking.

Wishing you a smooth and pleasant lychee season!

For Luc Ngan lychee growers, June is perhaps the most special time of the year, not only because this is the busiest and hardest time of the year for people, but also because all daily routines seem to be disrupted by the season. This is also the season of joy, of delicious, sweet fruits ready to be harvested, and each household has an additional source of income. Therefore, staying up all night and sleeping less than usual is understandable. Despite having to work at night, in hot weather, and not even having time to eat breakfast, the family members of Mr. Kien, Mr. Hai, as well as many other households on the lychee land still have bright smiles, simply because after selling each basket of lychees, the fruit of their labor, they will have millions of dong.

Gardeners in Luc Ngan welcome a bumper fruit season.

While in the hilly gardens, farmers have to work all night to pick fruit, at the lychee purchasing points near Highway 31, traders and workers also stay up late to pack the goods and put them on trucks to be sold. Under the sweltering heat of summer, muscular young men urgently carry each box of lychee and block of ice to the truck to deliver the goods to customers on time. The work is often bustling until 12 midnight.

In 2025, the lychee area in Luc Ngan district will reach more than 10,300 hectares, with output increasing sharply compared to previous years. The harvest season is quite short, starting from early June to late July, leading to great seasonal pressure, requiring people to harvest urgently.

According to documents, the first lychee tree took root in Luc Ngan in 1953, and has been growing and developing well since then. Over time, lychee is still the number one priority tree in directing production development, contributing to hunger eradication, poverty reduction and making farmers rich. Through many ups and downs, Luc Ngan people with their diligent hands, creative minds and persistent will have preserved and developed this tree into a famous Vietnamese agricultural brand exported to dozens of countries around the world . Luc Ngan lychee has been granted geographical indications and registered for product trademark protection in the following countries: Laos, Cambodia, Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, Australia and the United States.

This year, the lychee area in Luc Ngan district reached more than 10.3 thousand hectares, the output increased sharply compared to previous years, the production area according to VietGAP standards was more than 6.9 thousand hectares (reaching 66.96% of the area). However, the lychee harvest season is quite short, starting from the beginning of June to the end of July, leading to great seasonal pressure, requiring people to urgently harvest.

Early morning in Luc Ngan lychee region.

Mr. Dao Cong Hung, Acting Chairman of Luc Ngan District People's Committee, said: The lychee ripening season has become the most exciting and anticipated season of the year in Luc Ngan. Lychee farmers are truly professional gardeners to create products of superior quality and safety. Currently, many businesses have registered to purchase and sign contracts to consume Luc Ngan lychees for export and domestic consumption. Since the beginning of the season, the whole district has harvested and consumed about 8 thousand tons of fresh fruit, of which more than 60% is consumed domestically, the rest is exported at relatively high prices. The district's functional agencies always actively support people in harvesting and consuming lychees.

An urgent, bustling but happy atmosphere of the lychee season permeates every roof, every small hamlet and every face of Luc Ngan farmers. The harvest takes place from midnight until the lychee carts roll to the weighing point in the early morning. Although it is hard work, the stable selling price will give farmers more motivation to stick with their hills and gardens, cherishing the lychee trees.

Only by staying up all night with the people harvesting lychees can one feel more clearly that behind the sweet taste of the fruit is a great love for the homeland. Countless drops of sweat and effort have been poured in exchange for the hope of a more fulfilling and prosperous life. Surely, the gardening “artisans” here will write more proud stories about this fruit tree.

Article and photos: Nguyen Huong

Source: https://baobacgiang.vn/luc-ngan-nhung-dem-khong-ngu-postid419936.bbg