Hoang Quoc Khanh, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee; Lo Minh Hung, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee; and Nguyen Dinh Viet, Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, co-chaired the event.

On November 30, 2015, the Standing Board of the provincial Party Committee issued Conclusion No. 121-TB/TU on several directions regarding the cultivation of fruit trees on sloping land by 2020. The objectives and tasks included a significant shift from cultivating corn, rice, and cassava on sloping land to fruit trees. The entire political system focused on leading and directing the implementation.

During the 2016–2025 period, the province converted and planted nearly 62,000 hectares of fruit trees, increasing the total area of fruit trees and hawthorns to 85,000 hectares. The estimated output in 2025 is 510,000 tonnes, making Son La the province with the largest fruit-growing area in the North and the second largest nationwide. The production value per hectare has reached 150–300 million VND annually, with some exemplary models achieving 400–500 million VND, representing an increase of 4-10 times compared to 2016.

There are 201 fruit production chains with a total area of over 4,500 hectares; 335 enterprises and cooperatives cultivating fruit trees with a total area of nearly 9,400 hectares. Of the total, 2,200 hectares have applied water-saving irrigation systems; and over 4,750 hectares have been certified with VietGAP and equivalent standards. There are also 218 planting area codes, 31 branded agricultural and food products, and 59 fruit products certified as OCOP (one commune, one product) items.

From 2017 to 2025, the province has exported fruits to 15 countries with a total export volume of over 158,000 tonnes. Currently, it has 560 agricultural processing facilities, 2,994 drying facilities, and 40 cold storage warehouses.

Khanh requested the Party Committee of the provincial People’s Committee, Party committees at all levels, authorities, the Fatherland Front, and socio-political organisations to focus on leading, directing and encouraging fruit tree development toward green, organic, and circular agriculture.

He emphasised the need to build safe fruit value chains, implement programmes and projects to issue planting area codes, and trace the origin of the province’s fruit products.

The development of concentrated fruit-growing areas should be linked with tourism development, the leader stressed, urging continued research and the issuance of mechanisms and policies to encourage and attract enterprises, cooperatives, and residents to invest in fruit tree development in the province.

Priority should be given to developing the domestic fruit market, maintaining stability in traditional markets, and expanding and diversifying export markets.

The secretary also assigned the Party Committee of the provincial People’s Committee to direct the research and development of a project on fruit tree development in the province for the 2025-2030 period, with a vision to 2035; develop a draft Resolution on fruit tree development of the provincial Party Committee, submit it to the provincial Party Committee and its Standing Board.

Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Hoang Quoc Khanh presents certificates of merit of the provincial Party Committee's Standing Board to individuals.

On this occasion, the provincial Party Committee’s Standing Board awarded certificates of merit to nine collectives and 49 individuals; the Chairman of the provincial People's Committee awarded certificates of merit to 10 collectives and five individuals with outstanding achievements in implementing the policy of the provincial Party Committee’s Standing Board on planting fruit trees on sloping land in the 2016-2025 period.