Currently, Son La province has 82,626 hectares of fruit trees and hawthorn trees; of which, 73,026 hectares are fruit trees and 9,600 hectares are hawthorn trees. Some crops have large areas and high yields, including: 13,276 hectares of plums, yielding 85,985 tons; 19,853 hectares of longan, yielding over 66,000 tons; 19,578 hectares of mangoes, yielding over 71,500 tons; 1,098 hectares of custard apples, yielding approximately 6,645 tons; and 805 hectares of strawberries, yielding over 7,800 tons... Through agricultural product promotion activities, by November 20th, the entire province had sold 348,653 tons of fruit, estimated at 93% of the production, with an estimated value of over 5,310 billion VND. At this time, some fruit trees have finished harvesting, such as strawberries, plums, mangoes, and longan. Farmers are now focusing on harvesting custard apples, bananas, and citrus fruits.

A booth displaying agricultural products from Yen Chau district at the conference organized by the Provincial Farmers' Association.

Besides consuming fresh fruit, the province also has 17 factories and 543 agricultural processing facilities; each year, the processing capacity ranges from several tens to thousands of tons of mangoes, longan, coffee, cassava, pineapple, plums, sweet corn, bananas, macadamia nuts, hawthorn berries, various vegetables and tubers, etc., contributing to reducing the pressure on fresh fruit consumption and increasing the value of agricultural products. Currently, the province's fruit products are also purchased and processed by businesses and cooperatives into dried fruit products, fruit concentrates, juices, and dried longan; these products are purchased and consumed domestically and exported by Bich Thi Joint Stock Company (Hung Yen province); FUSA Organic Agriculture Joint Stock Company (Hai Duong province); Danko Import-Export Joint Stock Company; Minh Khai Import-Export Trading Joint Stock Company (Lao Cai province); Hanoi Organic Food Limited Company, etc.

From 2021 to the present, Son La province has attracted investment in 11 large-scale agricultural processing projects, of which 8 projects have received new investment approval. In addition, the province is currently reviewing and approving one more investment project; and continuing to review and submit for approval two more projects, including: the instant cereal and dried fruit production plant project of VFI Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company; and the Solas fruit packaging and processing plant project of Bao Lam Son La Joint Stock Company.

Agricultural processing plants operate efficiently, continuously developing raw material areas through supply chains, such as: Son La Sugar Corporation signing contracts for sugarcane production and consumption with nearly 10,000 households; businesses and cooperatives participating in linked production and consumption of coffee with 12,000 households; Moc Chau Dairy Cattle Breeding Joint Stock Company linking with over 510 households in livestock farming and hundreds of households growing corn, supplying the TMR factory...

Ms. Nguyen Hang Nga, Director of Doveco Son La Fruit and Vegetable Processing Center, said: The company has 1,461 hectares of raw material area for processing, achieving 99% of the plan. From the beginning of the year until now, the unit has purchased over 26,000 tons of agricultural products for processing, including: 2,755 tons of sweet corn, 1,163 tons of spinach, 2,537 tons of pink bananas, 15,785 tons of mangoes, 2,180 tons of passion fruit, 1,547 tons of edamame soybeans, and 63 tons of longan.

The coffee processing plant of Phuc Sinh Son La Joint Stock Company.

After more than 6 years of operation, Phuc Sinh Son La Joint Stock Company has invested in purchasing and processing coffee and developing a new product processing line. Mr. Vu Viet Thang, the company's director, informed that the company has put into operation a Cacara tea processing line, including: a food-grade fruit washing system, peeling, and UV-free drying; a multi-functional cold drying system that ensures the preservation of flavor and color; and automatic packaging of square and triangular filter bags, with a designed capacity of 0.5 tons of tea per production batch. Previously, all coffee husks were used as fertilizer or fuel. With the introduction of the Cascara tea production line, a unique tea product with high economic value has been created and is well-received by European markets.

Processing honey coffee by Aratay Coffee Cooperative, Chieng Chung commune, Mai Son district.

Mr. Nguyen Van Bac, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade, stated: In 2024, the overall industrial production index is estimated to increase by 28.3%, of which: the processing and manufacturing industry is estimated to increase by 5.6%. Several processed industrial products are estimated to increase compared to the same period, such as: semi-processed tea (up 5.36%); cassava starch (up over 20%); pasteurized fresh milk (up over 5.71%);... The value of agricultural processing industrial production is expected to reach 5,360 billion VND, an increase of more than 8% compared to 2023.

Continuing to attract businesses into the agricultural sector, on August 22nd, the People's Committee of Son La province issued a Decision approving the outline, tasks, and budget for the establishment of the Son La High-Tech Agricultural Zone, located in sub-area 12, Tan Lap commune, Moc Chau district, with a minimum scale of 50 hectares. Simultaneously, on August 30th, the People's Committee of Son La province issued a Decision approving the outline, tasks, and budget for the project to develop Son La into a center for processing agricultural products, which is currently awaiting approval from the Prime Minister. The project is expected to open up opportunities, attract investment in agriculture and rural areas, and develop the preliminary processing and processing of agricultural products in the province.

Source: Son La Newspaper