Development of Orange Production in Quy Hop District, Nghe An Province

Orange production in Quy Hop district, Nghe An province is an important economic activity, which provides livelihoods and jobs for local farmers. However, the accelerating expansion of orange area in 2012-2014 period also poses a question on the quality of the growth. The study employed secondary data and primary data collected from a survey of 89 farm households, in depth interviews with government officers and orange traders in Quy Hop district. Results show that orange production has brought a considerable income for farmers, with average size of orange farm of about 1.73ha, generating more than VND 300 million/ha/season. However, while orange area is rapidly expanded, the organization of production towards commercial and large scale with cooperation/linkages in production and marketing is still very weak. Besides, farmers face with a number of problems in production, especially pest, diseases, input quality, irrigation and transportation. Some recommendations were proposed to promote orange production and to exploit natural advantage in Quy Hop district.