Off-season durian is scarce, traders go to the garden to compete to buy

Tien Giang Traders hire "brokers" to go into the garden to hunt for durian, which is in short supply, at a price of 135,000-145,000 VND per kg.

These days, the durian capital of Tien Giang is bustling with workers harvesting in the garden. After being picked, the durians are carried on their backs or pushed in wheelbarrows to the collection point. Due to the narrow country roads, the durians are then put into baskets, transported by motorbike to the main road, and loaded onto trucks to the sorting warehouse.

Picked durians will be carried from the garden to the collection point. Photo: Hoang Nam — Picked durians will be carried from the garden to the collection point. Photo: *Hoang Nam*

It is the beginning of the off-season, durian production is still limited, so a week before harvest, local traders come to the garden to place a deposit to buy at a price of 135,000-145,000 VND per kg.

Mr. Phan Minh Quan, a trader in Cai Lay town, said that every day, his warehouse buys 2 to 5 tons of durian in Cai Lay, Cai Be and Cho Lach ( Ben Tre ) with the highest price of 135,000 VND per kg. In addition, to have enough supply, traders also hire "brokers" who are local people to go to the garden to buy durian at a fee of 1,000-1,500 VND per kg.

Mr. Nguyen Van Linh, 55 years old (Phu Quy, Cai Lay town), said that his family has 4,000 m2 (4 hectares) of 8-year-old Monthong durian. In the previous two crops, he planted durian in the off-season with high yields, 4 hectares yielded about 10 tons of fruit, sold for 70,000-85,000 VND per kilogram. After deducting expenses, his family earned a profit of 500-600 million VND per crop.

This year, due to heavy rain at night, it was very difficult to process the flowers, 4 hectares of durian only yielded 8-8.5 tons. However, due to the scarcity of goods, durian from Mr. Linh's garden was purchased at 130,000 VND per kg, nearly double the price of previous years.

"After deducting the cost of fertilizer, pesticides, and care of about 200 million VND, my family made a profit of about 900 million VND for this crop," said Mr. Linh.

Gardeners said that in the past, durian was usually grown in season. However, in recent years, the area of this crop in the region and elsewhere has increased, so many gardeners have changed their "tactics" to planting in the off-season, although the processing techniques are complicated and there are many disadvantages due to the weather, in return, they will sell for a higher price.

Mr. Vo Van Men, Director of the Tien Giang Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, also acknowledged that due to unfavorable weather, this season's durian output was not as high as previous years.

"Eastern durian is out of season, the peak off-season harvest is still about a month away, leading to a shortage of goods," Mr. Men explained the high price of durian.

According to him, due to the skyrocketing prices, recently in some places, farmers and traders have harvested "young" durians that do not meet standards. The Tien Giang Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection has issued many recommendations to gardeners and purchasing units not to affect the quality and reputation of local durians for immediate benefits.

Gardeners gather durians waiting for traders to weigh them. Photo: Hoang Nam — Gardeners gather durians waiting for traders to weigh them. Photo: *Hoang Nam*

Tien Giang has nearly 18,000 hectares of durian, mainly concentrated in Cai Be, Cai Lay, Chau Thanh districts and Cai Lay town. Of these, more than 10,000 hectares have produced fruit with an average yield of 26.4 tons per hectare, producing nearly 300,000 tons per year. Tien Giang durian has been granted 72 growing area codes with a total area of more than 2,600 hectares.

From now until January next year, farmers will harvest off-season durian with an average output of 200,000 tons.

Hoang Nam

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