Links to go the “long way”

07:12, 11/28/2023

The area of fruit trees in Dak Lak is increasing rapidly, but to develop sustainably, it is necessary to build a chain of links in production, product consumption, and increase the competitiveness of local agricultural products...

Increase area

The area of fruit trees in the province is increasing strongly, especially durian, banana, longan... According to statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the past 10 years, the total area of fruit trees in the province has increased nearly 7 times, from 7,870 hectares (2012) to 51,938 hectares (2022).

From having only a few types of fruit trees, now Dak Lak province can grow almost all the fruits in the country. Notably, within 10 years (2012 - 2022), the durian area increased rapidly, from 1,448 ha to 22,458 ha (an increase of 15.5 times), making Dak Lak the second largest province in the country in durian cultivation; followed by longan from 219 ha to 2,610 ha, avocado also increased from 97 ha (in 2014) to 7,202 ha (in 2022), more than 74 times.

Durian is a crop that brings high economic value to Dak Lak farmers.

In Krong Pac district, in recent years, many farmers in the district have tended to shift their crop structure, converting from old, ineffective coffee production areas to fruit tree cultivation to increase income, of which durian is the most widely grown, with an existing area of over 7,100 hectares. On average, each year, this locality develops an additional 1,000 hectares of this crop.

Mr. Vu Duc Con, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, assessed that the area of fruit trees has expanded to many localities in the province, with increasingly improved quality. Fruits have many advantages for export, bringing high economic value to farmers. The province has also formed specialized growing areas, applying new technology to production. However, the fruit market has strict requirements on quality and traceability. In particular, China is strengthening quarantine measures, requiring more stringent technical requirements... In that context, proposing solutions to improve quality, organize production, harvest, preservation and trade linkages in the supply chain for local fruits is necessary to increase the competitiveness of agricultural products.

Need to link for sustainable development

The area of fruit trees is increasing rapidly, which also poses many potential risks of unsustainability in agricultural production in the province. Meanwhile, fresh fruits are seasonal and have a short shelf life, so the risks are great.

Among the fruits of Dak Lak, avocado was once considered the "king of fruits" that helped many farmers get rich with prices reaching up to 100,000 VND/kg at times, but now the price of avocado has dropped dramatically, forcing many growers to cut down. From nearly 9,500 hectares in 2021, there are now 7,202 hectares of avocado. And this risk is also very likely to happen to durian trees if there is no long-term and systematic development strategy.

Officials from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Farmers' Association of M'Drak district visited a longan garden in Ea Pil commune, M'Drak district. Photo: Thuan Nguyen

In Cu M'gar district, the government, businesses and farmers are making efforts to improve and enhance the quality of fruits and find ways to link up for stable output. With the increasing area of durian, Cu M'gar district has 13 businesses linking production, technical consulting, and product consumption with cooperatives and cooperative groups. These are the foundational organizations to gather local farmers. The district has also registered and been granted a certificate of protection for the "Cu M'gar durian" trademark, and completed the construction of 37 durian growing area codes with an area of over 830 hectares.

In addition to building suitable growing areas, Dak Lak province has been focusing on promoting links between enterprises, cooperatives, cooperative groups and producers. Depending on each type of agricultural product, the local agricultural sector has had appropriate orientations in production orientation, consumption markets, scientific and technical training... for farmers."

Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Duc Con

However, in reality, the problem of linking agricultural product consumption between enterprises and farmers is not really strong. Meanwhile, the market always has unpredictable fluctuations, the "link" of fruit consumption between farmers and enterprises sometimes does not really understand and share benefits harmoniously, leading to a broken connection.

From Tien Giang province to Krong Pac district to open a warehouse to purchase and package agricultural products for export, Ms. Nguyen Hong Tram Tuyen, Deputy Director of Thuy Fruit Company Limited, said that in recent years, the local fruit supply has been abundant, so businesses are not under pressure to find a source of supply, partly because they have built a connection with farmers. However, when durian prices increase, there are cases of farmers "breaking the deal" with businesses, leading to the connection being easily "broken".

Discussing the issue of linkage in agricultural production, Mr. Vu Duc Con, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, affirmed that farmers boldly switching to fruit trees to replace ineffective crops is the right direction. However, to promote efficiency in production, focusing on quality alone is not enough, it is necessary to have solutions to promote the formation of linkage chains from building growing area codes to processing and consuming products. At the same time, it is necessary to step up propaganda so that farmers can clearly see the benefits, change their ways of doing things and become an important "link" in the linkage chain to increase agricultural value. This is a fundamental factor for agricultural economics, creating worthy value for Dak Lak fruits.

Do Lan

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