Dragon fruit prices are skyrocketing, gardeners have nothing to sell

Off-season dragon fruit costs 33,000-43,000 VND per kilogram, but gardeners have none to sell because the yield has been halved after a long period of losses.

Near the end of November, the end of the main dragon fruit season and the beginning of the off-season, many warehouses in Chau Thanh district ( Long An ) buy red-fleshed dragon fruit of grades 1 to 3 at a price of 33,000-43,000 VND per kg.

However, in contrast to the bustling harvest scene of previous years, this year most of the dragon fruit areas of the people are in a state of limited production.

Gardeners take care of the dragon fruit crop in mid-November in Tan An City (Long An). Photo: Hoang Nam

Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, 40 years old, Thanh Phu Long commune, Chau Thanh, has 3,000 m2 of red-fleshed dragon fruit. When the price of dragon fruit is over 30,000 VND per kg, his family harvests about 6 tons of fruit or more every year with 2-3 light-burning crops, with the lowest annual profit being over 100 million VND.

Since the pandemic, dragon fruit has not been exported, causing prices to plummet. Phuc and many other gardeners have suffered prolonged losses. Some gardeners could not afford the cost of fertilizers and pesticides, so they had to destroy the dragon fruit and switch to other crops. Phuc's family still tries to maintain the dragon fruit area, but instead of using lamps, they grow the off-season crop. The price may be lower, but he reduces the risk of loss.

"From the beginning of the year until now, we have only harvested about 2 tons of fruit, one-third of previous years. Including the cost of fertilizer, pesticides, and care, there is no profit," Phuc shared.

Mr. Truong Van An in Tan An City has 1.5 hectares of red-fleshed dragon fruit that is preparing to harvest for the lamp-burning season. The purchase price of dragon fruit at the warehouse is currently quite high, but according to Mr. An, this season, most gardeners only take care of it sparingly, without enough nutrition, so the fruit usually only meets the standards of grade 3,4.

"In addition, many areas of diseased fruit had to be sold at a price of 7,000-8,000 VND per kilo, so this season, gardeners only made a small profit or suffered a loss," said Mr. An.

Long An has about 12,000 hectares of dragon fruit, mainly concentrated in Chau Thanh district with a total output of nearly 300,000 tons per year. After many years of prolonged losses due to disease, many farmers have simultaneously destroyed dragon fruit and switched to other crops, with the current area being only about 9,000 hectares.

Workers sort packaged dragon fruit at a warehouse in Chau Thanh district (Long An) on November 21. Photo: Hoang Nam

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Trinh, Chairman of Long An Dragon Fruit Association, said that the price of dragon fruit this season is the highest since the beginning of the year. However, the remaining fruit output is only about 200 - 300 tons.

"After suffering losses due to the epidemic, many dragon fruit growing areas were not properly cared for, lacked fertilizer and pesticides, and the plants were infected with diseases. As a result, fruit yield was reduced by half," said Mr. Trinh.

Currently, warehouses only purchase a maximum of about 2-3 tons of dragon fruit per day, many warehouses have no source of goods and have to close.

Along with Long An, Tien Giang is the locality with the largest dragon fruit area in the West, about 10,000 hectares. However, in the past two years, the dragon fruit area has also decreased sharply, now only 8,900 hectares, with a total annual output of about 200,000 tons.

"Like the situation with Thai jackfruit trees for many years, when the yield is low, the price is high, so in reality, dragon fruit growers are still facing many difficulties," said Mr. Men.

Hoang Nam

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