Growers of peach and kumquat worry about bad weather, slow sales                                    Peach and kumquat growers in Hanoi have been worried about the cold weather, which has seriously affected the development of the trees and led to slow sales as Tet nears.    Growers of peach and kumquat worry about great loss Nguyen Van Viet, one of the biggest peach growers in Nhat Tan Village, said one month away from Tet will come, frost and cold weather has been affecting the blossoms of his trees. “Pretty much one out of six peach trees in my garden have died,” he said, adding that the unusual weather in recent years has caused great losses for many peach growers. In 2011 cold weather caused the majority of peach trees to blossom after Tet. The year after that, the trees that did blossom were two weeks late. Mr. Long, the owner of a big peach orchard in Nhat Tan Village, said that there was early blossoming due to unfavourable weather, and that up to 20%-30% of peach trees would die this year, but the situation could get worse if frost comes early. He added that local growers have received many orders, but not on the scale of previous years. Not only have peach growers been feeling the wrath of weather, but kumquat growers have as well. They are also worried over revenues for this year. Some insects have also been attacking their trees. Nguyen Van Lam, who grows around 500 kamquat trees in Tay Ho District’s Tu Lien Ward, said he invested hundreds of millions of VND, not including the funds for fertilizer, and only hoped that he could recover the cost for seedlings. This year at least 30% of kumquat growing areas in Tu Lien Ward are expected to be affected by bad weather. According to farmers in Nhat Tan Village and Tu Lien Ward, however, the prices of kumquat and peach flower might not be as high. Dang Van Dong, Director of the Centre for Flowers and Ornamental Plants Research, said that the limited stunting of peach flowers and kumquats just due to changing weather conditions but also the growers. Many farmers do not invest enough in their orchards, he claimed. A number of orchards have not yet been given new soil for the past decade, which inevitably affects the development of trees, Dong added. NLD