SeasonplumIn 2025, Moc Chau Plateau (Son La) is entering its final harvest days. Although it is the end of the season, in many plum gardens, the plums are still densely packed, dark purple on the branches. The red and purple colors of the fruit and the green of the leaves create a colorful mix, attracting tourists from near and far to join plum picking tours.

In contrast to the joy of tourists, plum garden owners on the Moc Chau plateau are experiencing a less joyful plum season.

Newly harvested plums at Khanh Anh garden, Tan Yen ward. Photo:Son Trang.

Mr. Nguyen Van Doc, owner of a large plum garden in Thao Nguyen ward, said that this year the plum crop was good but the price dropped sharply, only nearly half, or even 1/3 compared to last year's plum season. Currently, the price of small plums sold at the garden is only about 4,000 - 5,000 VND/kg, large plums from 10,000 - 15,000 VND/kg.

Although plum prices have dropped sharply, Mr. Doc's family still makes a profit thanks to low investment costs. His family currently has nearly 1,500 plum trees, with an estimated total output of about 70 - 80 tons of fruit. The total cost for each plum tree (fertilization, care, etc.) in the 2025 crop is about 150,000 VND, while the yield of each tree is from 70 - 80 kg to more than 100 kg. In total, this year's plum season, Mr. Doc's family made a profit of about 1 billion VND - a much lower profit than previous plum seasons because there was a season when his family pocketed more than 2 billion VND after deducting all costs.

To cover production costs, Mr. Doc received active support from Agribank Moc Chau Branch with a short-term loan of 4.5 billion VND, with a preferential interest rate of only 5.5%/year.

Mr. Doc (left) talks with staff of Agribank Moc Chau Branch about the 2025 plum season. Photo:Son Trang.

In addition to investing in the care of plum, orange, persimmon and other short-term trees on a total area of 20 hectares, Mr. Doc also invested in fertilizer for associated plum gardens in the region. The output from these plum gardens was purchased by him at a rate of 30 - 40 tons/day. He exported the plums he produced and purchased to many provinces and cities across the country, all the way to Thu Duc wholesale market in Ho Chi Minh City.

In addition, thanks to a large loan with preferential interest rates, Mr. Doc also boldly invested in machinery and equipment for plum production as well as other fruit trees. Part of the capital was used to buy more land to expand the farm.

In addition to Mr. Doc, many plum farmers in Moc Chau plateau, although also experiencing a less than happy plum season, are still assured of production thanks to timely credit capital from Agribank Moc Chau Branch. Outstanding loans from Agribank Moc Chau Branch currently account for about 40% of the total outstanding loans of commercial banks in Moc Chau town (old).

Moc Chau plum. Photo:Son Trang.

Moc Chau is one of the largest plum growing areas in the country with an area of nearly 3,500 hectares. Thanks to the cool climate and fertile soil, in addition to plums, many other fruit trees are also being grown here such as apricots, oranges, mangoes, etc.

In addition to the income from plums, during the plum blossom season when the mountains and forests are covered in white flowers or the plum season when the branches are red, many plum gardens in Moc Chau plateau have additional income from tourists who come to visit the plum gardens, take pictures with plum flowers or experience the plum harvest here.

Ms. Pham My Anh, owner of Khanh Anh garden in Tan Yen commune, said that to help visitors have more interesting experiences, her garden has added other services and products such as renting traditional costumes of the H'Mong people for visitors to take photos with plum blossoms, plums, making stir-fried plums with ginger, wind-dried persimmons... so that visitors can have more Moc Chau specialties to bring back as gifts.