Lychee farmers in Hung Yen are rushed off their feet these days harvesting their egg-shaped lychees. The size of chicken eggs and with a nice appearance and sweet aroma, the lychees have won favour among consumers from far and wide. Locals said this year's output decreased due to unfavourable weather, but the prices have stayed high.

Mai Van Quyet, Director of Quyet Tien agricultural cooperative, Phan Sao Nam commune, Phu Cu district said that the cooperative has more than 60 hectares of egg-shaped lychees certified to meet VietGAP standards with an estimated output of 100 tonnes.

Hung Yen province is now home to over 1,300 hectares of lychee, which mainly concentrate in Phu Cu and An Thi districts, producing more than 250 tonnes each season. The trademark of Hung Yen egg-shaped lychee has been certified by the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam, under the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2020 and the fruit was ranked a four-star product under the One-Commune-One Product (OCOP) programme by the provincial People’s Committee.

Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Cu district Vu Xuan Thuy said that in the 2024 crop year, Phu Cu early lychees and Hung Yen egg- shaped lychees are in season from the end of May and early June, 10-15 days earlier than other lychees on the market. The output of lychee in 2024 in the district is estimated at 13,500-14,000 tonnes.

According to the Vice Chairman, in an attempt to improve the brand and value of lychee products, in recent years, the district has actively organised several programmes to help boost consumption of lychees and agricultural products of the locality. This is an opportunity for local farmers and cooperatives to promote production, access more distributing points to reach domestic and foreign consumers. Therefore, over the years, Phu Cu early ripening lychees and Hung Yen egg-shaped lychees have always been popular with businesses, traders and consumers near and far.

In the coming time, the district will continue to convert rice land to crops with high economic value associated with the implementation of mechanisms and policies to support farmers, with a focus on planting egg-shaped lychees in communes in the northern area of the province and early-ripening lychees in the southern area. At the same time, the district will continue to build brands and trademarks for key agricultural products; use traceability stamps to protect the locality’s brand and maintain the quality and reputation of the products.

Besides, the district will also form links from production to processing, preservation and sales to create production stability.

According to Nguyen Huu Long, Chairman of the People's Committee of Phan Sao Nam commune, Phu Cu district, in order to popularise Hung Yen’s egg-shaped lychees, in the coming time, the locality will continue to invest in rural roads; renovate and upgrade drainage canals and ditches system to serve the lychee planting area while actively transferring science and technology to farmers to preserve the locality’s specialty./.