The secret to bringing Muc grapefruit out of Lao Cai, helping people develop the economy

TPO - Muc grapefruit is a famous delicious fruit of Bao Thang district, Lao Cai province, but when in season, people only consume it in neighboring areas, and it is little known to the whole country. Thanks to the hands of Ms. Luu Nguyet Anh, Director of Muc Grapefruit Cooperative, this fruit has been flying far and high in the market.

Ms. Luu Nguyet Anh, founder of Muc Grapefruit Cooperative

On a day in October, we went to Thai Nien commune, Bao Thang district when the local people were entering the harvest season of Muc grapefruit. Visiting the grapefruit garden of the Muc grapefruit cooperative, Ms. Luu Nguyet Anh, Director of the cooperative, shared that Muc grapefruit was brought here by people from Hung Yen to grow here more than 30 years ago and became a specialty of the region, but did not bring high economic efficiency.

Therefore, she decided to establish a cooperative to develop the brand, manage quality and expand the market for Muc grapefruit.

After its establishment, Muc Grapefruit Cooperative had 25 members with an area of 15.5 hectares of grapefruit. Making Muc Grapefruit one of the outstanding agricultural products of Bao Thang district's agriculture sector, achieving 4-star OCOP product quality at the provincial level.

Only quality grapefruits are brought to market.

Each grapefruit brought to market is quality controlled and labeled with the local grapefruit brand before reaching consumers.

“Grapefruits that are labeled must be of the right size, weight, and appearance, and must be grown and cared for properly, with the right amount of deliciousness and sweetness,” said Ms. Anh.

In the coming period, the cooperative aims to turn grapefruit into a key commodity to help people develop their economy. Ms. Hoang Thi Hoan, the person in charge of developing the Muc grapefruit brand, said that the Muc Grapefruit Cooperative is developing dried grapefruit peel tea products and distilling grapefruit peel essential oil to make hair conditioner, bringing higher economic efficiency.

"Immature grapefruits are not of good quality and grapefruit leaves are often thrown away, which is a waste, so I researched how to process them into health care products," said Ms. Hoan.

Dried grapefruit products and grapefruit essential oil of the cooperative attended the product introduction fair.

According to the plan, the cooperative will exploit all the value of grapefruit trees, produce products from grapefruit peel and leaves to make hair conditioner, grapefruit essential oil dishwashing liquid, etc. to increase the value of Muc grapefruit.

Written by Ha