Dragon fruit prices drop sharply

Dragon fruit was once considered a "life-changing tree" for many people in Tay Ninh province, but recently it has been facing many difficulties due to its cheap purchase price.

Dragon fruit is currently being purchased at low prices.

In mid-October, along the Tam Vu - Vinh Cong inter-communal road ( Tay Ninh province ), numerous dragon fruit orchards are laden with fruit, waiting to be harvested. However, instead of the joy of the ripening season, the farmers here are filled with worries.

On October 20th, Mr. Pham Van Tuong (60 years old, residing in Tam Vu commune, Tay Ninh province) sadly stated that he had just agreed on a price of only 4,500 VND/kg for red-fleshed dragon fruit with traders, regardless of grade 1, 2, or 3.

“This time, my family harvested about 1 ton of fruit from 600 dragon fruit trees. At this price, there will definitely be no profit, and we'll even have to owe more than 20 million dong for fertilizer and pesticides, not to mention labor costs,” Mr. Tuong said sadly.

Freshly harvested dragon fruit

Slightly better off, Mr. Nguyen Van Binh (residing in Hamlet 7, Vinh Cong Commune, Tay Ninh Province) said he had just sold 2 tons of red-fleshed dragon fruit grown on 4,000m² of land, at a price of 8,000 VND/kg for grade 1, and only 4,000–5,000 VND/kg for grades 2 and 3. Compared to less than a month ago, the current price is only one-third.

Mr. Binh shared: “About 10 years ago, dragon fruit cultivation truly transformed the lives of the people here. Everyone enthusiastically expanded their planting areas and invested in lighting, irrigation, and cold storage systems. But in recent years, prices have fluctuated erratically, leaving farmers unsure of what to do; whether to abandon the crop or continue planting remains a difficult dilemma.”

According to Mr. Binh, the investment costs for each dragon fruit crop are currently quite high: fertilizers, pesticides, electricity for lighting to induce flowering, labor for care, etc., all have increased; meanwhile, the selling price has dropped sharply, causing difficulties for growers.

In recent years, the price of dragon fruit has been unstable and has dropped significantly.

Not only small-scale farmers, but also those who once "made it big" thanks to dragon fruit are struggling. Mr. Nguyen Pham Ngoc, once known as the "dragon fruit tycoon" in Vinh Cong commune, recalls the golden age: "Before, I exported hundreds of tons of dragon fruit every day to all over the country, with 3-4 large warehouses. Now they're all closed, some are rented out, others are empty. Prices are volatile, no one dares to stockpile goods. I'm only left working as a middleman buying for other distributors, just to survive in the trade."

According to Mr. Ngoc, the purchase price at the farm gate has dropped sharply. The main reason is "supply exceeding demand." This year, dragon fruit yielded a high harvest, but this is also the peak harvesting season for many other fruits, causing a significant decrease in consumption. In addition, storms and heavy rain have made harvesting and transportation difficult, increasing storage costs.

Another important reason, according to Mr. Ngoc, is that the export market to China, the main outlet for Vietnamese dragon fruit, is shrinking. At this time, China is also entering its domestic dragon fruit harvest season, so imports from Vietnam have decreased sharply, while other markets still account for a very small proportion.

Dragon fruit traders

Over the years, local authorities have implemented numerous solutions to expand consumption linkages and find guaranteed markets for production. They have also encouraged farmers to switch to high-tech production processes to improve fruit quality. However, to some extent, Tay Ninh dragon fruit still faces many difficulties in terms of consumption and remains dependent on middlemen.

According to Nguyen Van Khai, Secretary of the Party Committee of Thuan My commune, dragon fruit is currently the main crop in Thuan My commune as well as some neighboring communes because it is suitable for the local soil conditions. However, prices have been unstable and low recently. In addition, heavy rains in recent days have caused flooding in many dragon fruit growing areas in the locality due to inadequate drainage.

"Therefore, many households have to spend extra money using pumps to drain the water and save their dragon fruit," said Mr. Nguyen Van Khai.

Le Duc

Source: https://baolongan.vn/gia-thanh-long-giam-manh-a205115.html