08:18, September 28, 2023
There was a golden age when the price sometimes reached 100,000 VND/kg (avocado booth), but avocado prices have quickly dropped dramatically for many years. Notably, in 2023, avocado prices hit rock bottom, and avocado trees are being mercilessly cut down by farmers in many localities due to the "heat" of durian trees.
Repeat the chorus of planting - cutting.
At this time in the Central Highlands, only the Booth avocado variety is being harvested. This is an avocado variety that used to have high economic value, helping many farmers get rich. However, for many consecutive years, the price of Booth avocado has been low, the output is unstable, making many people discouraged. Especially in 2023, Booth avocados have both a bad harvest and low quality because people do not invest in care, leading to low prices now being even lower. This situation has led to many avocado gardens being mercilessly cut down after the harvest.
Ms. Vu Thi Hoa (Thien An Ward, Buon Ho Town) said that her family has intercropped more than 30 booth avocado trees for 6-7 years, but this year the crop failed, none of the trees bore fruit so they called someone to cut them all down. “At the time when booth avocados had high economic value, my family also bought seedlings to intercrop in the coffee garden. However, when the harvest came, the price of avocados dropped, the crop often failed, there were pests and diseases, and there was no output so the economic efficiency was very low. My family decided to destroy them to plant other trees,” Ms. Hoa said.
In fact, not only Mrs. Hoa’s household destroyed the garden, but many households that planted avocado trees in pepper gardens and coffee gardens have gradually cut them down to plant durian trees. Some households that planted only avocado trees also destroyed some of them to plant durian trees or put their gardens up for sale.
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| Dai Hung Avocado Cooperative harvests avocados from households in Ea Toh commune (Krong Nang district). |
Ms. Nguyen Thi Tho (Quang Phu town, Cu M'gar district) shared: "As someone who often buys avocados from farmers to take to agricultural fairs in the provinces and cities, consumers in those places really like this type of avocado and always do not have enough to sell. However, this year it is really heartbreaking to witness many avocado gardens that are 7-8 years old. As soon as traders pick the fruit, people bring knives to chop it off because the economic value is too low. Meanwhile, the market demand for avocados is still very high, but the commercial connection from growers to consumers is still very poor. It is really regrettable!".
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dak Lak is the province with the second largest avocado growing area in the country (after Lam Dong province); the output ranks first (nearly 90,000 tons), accounting for 40.6% of the country's avocado output. In the years from 2018 to 2021, the province's avocado area increased rapidly (in 2021 it reached 9,146 hectares, an increase of 3,540 hectares compared to 2018). However, recently, the avocado price has dropped, so the area has gradually decreased to 7,200 hectares. Currently, the price of booth avocados in the gardens has dropped to the lowest in recent years, with traders buying in bulk at about 8,000 VND/kg, however, in bad fruit gardens, traders only buy at about 5,000 VND/kg or lower.
Many knots need to be untied
Avocado trees in Dak Lak are mainly intercropped in coffee gardens to diversify crops and increase income. Popular avocado varieties in the province today include: Booth 7 avocado, Four Seasons avocado, 034 avocado, local avocado varieties... However, the development of avocado in the province in recent times has not been sustainable in terms of both production organization and product consumption connection. The rapid increase in acreage has caused many problems in varieties, technological processes, investment capital, market connection... Many farmers have also used off-season avocado varieties or applied technical measures to make avocado trees bear fruit earlier or later. However, these areas have now grown so much that the output of off-season avocados is as high as that of main-season avocados, leading to farmers often being forced to lower prices by traders when harvesting.
On the other hand, post-harvest management of avocados has not received attention (not clearly defining harvest maturity, harvest time, unsanitary fruit storage tools, rudimentary transportation, etc.), causing rapid changes in fruit quality and high post-harvest losses. Meanwhile, the linkage model between farmers and enterprises is still limited. In the province, there are no enterprises investing in building avocado processing factories with modern advanced technology; the production area according to quality standards, applying good agricultural practices (VietGAP), and organic is still very small compared to the avocado area of the whole province.
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| Dai Hung Avocado Cooperative purchases and sorts avocados in the garden before selling them. |
Mr. Dang Huy Hung, Director of Dai Hung Avocado Cooperative (Buon Ma Thuot City) said that currently, the demand for avocado is relatively large, but the quantity of quality avocado is relatively small; the quality avocado to be on the shelves of large supermarkets seems to be non-existent. Currently, in the associated gardens, the cooperative buys booth avocados at high prices, type 1 is 20,000 VND/kg, type 2 is 8,000 VND/kg. The cooperative's products are supplied to fruit shops and small supermarkets. On average, the cooperative exports about 300 kg per day, but currently there is still not enough supply because the growing area is gradually shrinking, and people do not invest in care, so the quality is low, and the purchase is only sold in bulk to fruit warehouses.
To protect avocados – once a specialty of the Central Highlands – from the “heat” of durians, over the years, the Cooperative has partnered with a number of farmers, with a total area of 15 hectares, to renovate the orchards with a production process according to organic standards, with a variety of species and seasons, ensuring that avocados are harvested year-round. At the same time, the Cooperative has partnered with Po Lang Production and Trading Company Limited to provide organic avocado raw materials for essential oil production enterprises, serving cosmetic processing.
However, to solve the difficulties in avocado production and consumption, the role of cooperatives alone is not enough, but it is necessary to have the joint efforts of the government and specialized agencies in implementing policies to attract businesses to invest in building product processing factories; promoting the formation of production chains from building growing areas to processing and consuming products.
Minh Thuan
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