Climate change forces lychee growers to rethink farming

Abundance of fruits along the dike

The first summer rain had just stopped when the narrow roads leading into the Thanh Ha lychee zone in Hai Phong City were still slick with water, the smell of wet earth mixing with the scent of rain-fresh leaves. This year, many orchards show nothing but the deep green of dense canopies. Branches spread wide but carry little fruit. Some gardens stand eerily still, with none of the bustle of propping up heavy clusters and waiting for harvest day that marks a good season.

Yet out in the embankment fields, long considered the hardest-growing ground in the area, routinely battered by flooding, strong winds, and punishing weather, the lychee trees hang heavy. Branches bow under the weight of fruit still glistening after the rain. In a year of widespread crop failure, a zone that should have been the most disadvantaged has become a bright spot.

Walking slowly beneath the dripping trees, Pham Van Thanh, team leader of Production Unit 10 in Thuy Lam hamlet, Thanh Ha commune, carried the measured confidence of someone who has spent a lifetime in this orchard country. Storms, floods, tidal surges, and bad seasons are all familiar adversaries for growers working the land outside the dike.

Thanh said that in 2026, the unit manages around 10 hectares of lychee, predominantly the u hong variety, with yields running at roughly half the level achieved in 2025. The main culprit is the distinctive character of embankment farming: two consecutive years of flooding and inundation have visibly disrupted flowering and fruit set, while the area's constant exposure to tidal movement demands a different approach to irrigation, soil improvement, and seasonal care than orchards inside the dike.

Out of that adversity, however, growers here have built their own reservoir of adaptive knowledge. Thanh said farming lychee today cannot rely on inherited habit alone. It requires reading the weather carefully, drawing lessons from each season, and adjusting technique to match a climate that grows more extreme with every passing year.

"Our main variety is u hong, an early-ripening lychee that carries all the hallmarks of Thanh Ha fruit ,  a rich, gently fragrant flavor, lightly tart but clean and easy to eat," he said. "Because it ripens ahead of most other regions, u hong always gets a warm reception in the market and typically opens the season at a strong price."

To protect that reputation, Production Unit 10 has for years operated under a large-field model built around a unified GlobalGAP-certified production process. From fertilization and pesticide use through to harvesting and initial processing, every step is tightly controlled to meet the requirements of import markets.

"Climate change is pushing lychee growers to adapt faster than ever before. Where older generations could rely on inherited wisdom alone, today's farmers must combine that experience with new techniques and farm flexibly in response to whatever the weather brings," Thanh said.

No room for complacency

Luong Thi Kiem, deputy director of Hai Phong City's Department of Agriculture and Environment, said the city's agricultural authorities did not wait for problems to become visible before acting. From the very start of the season, they moved proactively ,  getting ahead of erratic weather and the increasingly exacting demands of export markets.

Technical guidance was made concrete and specific, with field officers embedded in each growing zone to work alongside farmers from the moment winter ended. Controlling winter shoots, maintaining the right growth rhythm, and managing fertilizer application and irrigation were all oriented toward a single objective: holding onto the flowers and holding onto the fruit in a year that was not cooperating.

"Pest and disease forecasting was also tightened, because in a volatile season, being even one step slow to detect a problem can mean paying a heavy price," Kiem said. Garden inspections were made more frequent, and early warnings were deployed as a soft line of defense to protect the season's output.

Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, deputy director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, identified a particular risk this year: the paradox of scarcity creating complacency. "Volumes are down and supply is tight, but buying demand is up. When there is less product and more buyers, a mentality of 'it will sell regardless' can take hold,  and that mentality bleeds into carelessness at the end of the season, affecting appearance, quality, and food safety compliance," she said, stressing that production discipline must be held most firmly precisely in the hardest years.

Huong said the standing of a storied growing region like Thanh Ha reflects decades of accumulated quality and trust. In a down year, protecting that standing matters more than ever, because it is the foundation on which future market access rests.

The Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection has urged local authorities to concentrate intensively on end-of-season orchard care around two priorities. The first is ensuring adequate nutrition and irrigation to maintain fruit quality and prevent cracking, skin blemishing, or color deterioration under abnormal weather conditions. The second is aggressive pest and disease management to protect as many of the remaining fruit clusters as possible,  because when total volume is already reduced, every lost cluster carries a greater cost.

The numbers

Hai Phong City has approximately 9,350 hectares under lychee cultivation in 2026, split roughly evenly between early-season and main-season varieties at around 50 percent each. Early lychee harvest is expected to begin in early May, peaking between May 10 and May 25. Main-season fruit will come in from early June, with the peak running from June 5 to June 20.

Total city-wide lychee output this year is estimated at around 55,000 tonnes, with early-season fruit accounting for approximately 35,000 tonnes and main-season fruit for around 20,000 tonnes.

The bulk of Hai Phong's lychee area is now farmed under certified safe-production protocols. As of 2025, the city maintains 12 GlobalGAP-certified growing zones and 81 VietGAP-certified zones, covering a combined certified area of approximately 1,045 hectares.

On the export side, around 50 percent of this year's crop is expected to go overseas. China remains the dominant destination at roughly 40 percent of total volume, while about 10 percent is directed toward premium markets including Japan, the United States, Australia, and the European Union.