Can Tho people gradually abandon mulberry, mango, star apple, longan to grow durian, what do the authorities say?

"Farmers in many places in the city are gradually abandoning native fruit trees and switching to growing durian trees, so they really need guidance from the agricultural sector" - a resident raised the issue with local authorities at a talk show with the theme "Developing a sustainable fruit tree production and consumption chain" organized by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City in coordination with the Department of Crop Production, Department of Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) in Co Do district recently.

Mr. Tran Thai Nghiem - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City talked about the issue of durian farmers at the seminar with the topic "Developing a sustainable fruit tree production and consumption chain". Photo: Huynh Xay

Accordingly, Mr. Tran Thai Nghiem - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City said that not only in Can Tho City, the area of durian has increased rapidly recently in many localities and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has warned.

However, in the 2023-2024 crop year, durian prices will increase, and people will earn higher profits than other crops. Therefore, this cannot stop people and this is an inevitable law.

"People have gradually abandoned mulberry, mango, longan, and star apple trees to grow durian. This phenomenon leads to very high risks for durian trees in the near future," said Mr. Nghiem.

Mr. Nghiem added: "With the speed of fruit tree development, we can only advise people to grow durian in a specialized direction, according to the right soil and in association with consuming businesses, to limit risks in the coming period, if any."

As for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, it will coordinate with relevant units to implement solutions to promote deep processing and preservation, and expand the consumption market for people outside the traditional market of China.

Can Tho City farmers harvest durian. Photo: Huynh Xay.

Also at the discussion program, Mr. Le Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production, said that currently the whole country has 120,000 hectares of durian, in the coming time it will increase to 150,000 hectares and possibly more.

However, currently other countries also have durian, meaning Vietnamese durian is and will have many competitors in terms of output and quality.

According to Mr. Tung, people should not follow trends, but should only plant fruit trees that are unique, especially native plants that cannot be found anywhere else.

"It is impossible to bring Ha Chau mulberry to Tien Giang to grow and make it taste as good as when grown in Phong Dien district of Can Tho city. Even if it tastes as good, it still lacks the 200-year history of Phong Dien district. This is a value that needs to be preserved," said Mr. Tung.

Mr. Tung said that in Tien Giang, the land is suitable for growing durian at low cost, if the durian price is low, people will also make a profit. However, for other lands that are not suitable for growing, the investment cost is very high, when the durian price drops a lot, it is easy to suffer losses.

Therefore, the Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production suggested that Can Tho City residents who want to change crops, especially from native crops to durian, must carefully consider the development of individuals, cooperatives, collectives and the whole locality.

"Can Tho has 25,000 hectares of fruit growing area, but it has all kinds of specialty trees. That's great because this is a key city, and every season there is fruit here," added the Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production.

It is known that currently, the durian growing area of Can Tho City is nearly 5,000 hectares. This is the fruit tree with the largest increase in area in the city.

Source: https://danviet.vn/nong-dan-can-tho-dan-tu-bo-dau-ha-chau-xoai-vu-sua-nhan-de-trong-sau-rieng-lanh-dao-so-nnptnt-noi-gi-20240726170421073.htm