Kumquat and peach blossom growers have had a difficult year as weather will not permit a successful harvest.

Days filled with rain have made kumquat fruits turn yellow and fall from the trees. Many trees have lost up to 90 percent of their fruit. “I have never, ever, suffered such a great loss like this year in 10 years of planting kumquat trees. There are several dozens of tones of lost fruit. So many have fallen off that I don’t bother to collect them,” said Hieu, owner of 3 kumquat gardens at Dong Ngac, Tu Liem.

Abundance of fallen fruit

Kumquat gardens at Quang Ba Village are facing the same situation. Owners of the gardens are extremely worried, especially about trees reserved by customers. They were sold for around VND2.5 million ($133).

“Customers are going to collect their trees but without any fruit like this they may ask for compensation, price reduction or even a refund,” said Hieu.

More scattered fruit

Hieu said that despite a shortage of trees, there cannot be a price increase because the quality isn't good. Growers could end up suffering great losses and may have to lower prices.

Kumquat growers are now hoping for the next harvest and trying to manage the losses. Hieu said he was trying to arrange fruit allocation with small steel strings in hopes that his trees would look better.

Fruit allocation is the goal for many growers

Peach blossom growers also are in the same boat as kumquat growers. Peach blossom gardens at Uy No, Dong Anh are already in full bloom before Tet has arrived.

Some peach blossom garden owners said they are in early bloom because the weather has become unexpectedly warmer.

“I have 300 peach blossom trees but 200 out of them are in full bloom. I cannot keep them to sell for Tet so I have to reduce the price and sell them to those who want to enjoy peach blossoms before Tet,” said Le Thi Man, at Cau Ca Hamlet.

“I have been growing peach blossom trees for 7 years but we have suffered losses for 4 of those years due to early or late blooming,” said Tran Le Van, owner of two gardens.

The whole garden of Nguyen Van Nam was in bloom 5 days ago. “I will suffer a big loss this year. I spent nearly ten million dong on my garden and put a lot made a lot of effort into it,” said Nam.

According to Ha Thu Hue, many farmers have failed harvest because they do not take timely action in regards to the weather forecasts.

Peach blossom gardens are already in full bloom before Tet has arrived.