"Out of breath" with passion fruit

In September 2022, when passion fruit was being purchased at 14,000 - 15,000 VND/kg, Ms. Doan Thi Hang in Dak Nia commune (Gia Nghia) started growing this plant. She invested in buying 4 boxes of seedlings and planted them on 4 acres of her family's vacant land.

When she planted passion fruit, the price of each box of seedlings was 2.8 million VND. In addition to the seeds, she invested in wire, pillars, fertilizer, and pesticides, which cost nearly 80 million VND. The total investment cost for 4 sao of passion fruit was more than 100 million VND.

Ms. Hang said that up to now, passion fruit has been harvested for about 2 months. However, the price of passion fruit has continuously decreased. Total revenue from passion fruit to date is only about 20 million VND.

"For more than a month now, the price of passion fruit has been only 3,000 - 4,000 VND/kg, so I am very discouraged. At this price, I have to cut down on investment, but the lemon garden is dying quickly. If I continue to invest, I will lose more money," said Ms. Hang.

Similarly, in November 2022, Mr. Nguyen Van Trung, in Dak Ha commune (Dak Glong), invested in planting 1,000 passion fruit trees on 8 sao of land. The total investment cost for pillars, seedlings, wire, and fertilizer was more than 100 million VND.

At the time he planted the seeds, the purchase price of passion fruit fluctuated from 18,000 - 22,000 VND/kg. Up to now, he has harvested 3 batches of fruit, about 500 kg of lemons, but can only sell them for 7,000 VND/kg.

dsc02024(1).jpg — Many passion fruit farmers are at risk of losses due to low selling prices.

Mr. Trung said that he takes care of his passion fruit garden organically, so the investment cost is higher. However, the income is not much, so he is somewhat discouraged.

In recent times, passion fruit cultivation has been expanded by many localities. There were times when the province ran out of seedlings.

The fact that people are "massively" expanding the area of passion fruit has led to a surplus of goods, prices continuously decreasing and remaining low for over a month.

Dak Nong is entering the rainy season, many diseases on passion fruit are starting to appear. Among them, there are many types of diseases such as root fungus that kills the vines; fruit fungus that causes fruit to fall; sucking insects...

To harvest lemons, people have to spend more effort, fertilizer, medicine, etc. Many farmers are worried that they will not be able to recover their capital, so they have cut down on investment costs. This will reduce the life of the lemon garden, causing it to wither quickly.

According to many farmers, if passion fruit prices are from 3,000 to 5,000 VND/kg, it will be very difficult to recover the investment capital. In fact, if invested properly, it will lead to heavier losses.

Statistics from the agricultural sector show that in 2022, Dak Nong province will have more than 713 hectares of passion fruit, with an average yield of 8.11 tons/ha and an output of 4,815 tons/year.

Passion fruit is concentrated in Dak Glong, Tuy Duc, Dak R'lap, Dak Song districts... This crop has grown strongly in area since there was information about official export to China.

Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Nong province issued a document advising people not to spontaneously expand the area of passion fruit; not to spontaneously cut down other crops to switch to growing passion fruit.

Local authorities need to strictly manage the production, trading and quality of passion fruit seedlings. From there, ensure the source of quality passion fruit seedlings when supplying to the market, avoiding causing damage to farmers.

To sustainably develop passion fruit in the area, the Department of Agriculture directs producers to link up and establish cooperatives and enterprises.

This will help passion fruit growing areas be given growing area codes and packaging facility codes to connect output, stabilize production, and aim for export...

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