Dragon Fruits Gain New Life

While Ninh Thuan is known as the kingdom of grapes, Binh Thuan is considered the realm of dragon fruits in Vietnam. This specialty fruit has gradually asserted its position on the market, especially in Europe and the United States. Binh Thuan people call dragon fruits a poverty reliever, as they bring food, employment and money for local people. The specialty fruit has also made penniless people billionaires.

High profit

Dragon fruit plants have long been grown in Binh Thuan province. Initially, they were planted to separate household estates. Unlike other fruit trees, they do not need much care from farmers. According to specialists, natural conditions like the climate and soil determine the quality of Binh Thuan dragon fruit. The very sunny and windy tropical climate in the coastal province generates the particular taste of Binh Thuan dragon fruits.

At present, the province has nearly 12,000 ha of dragon fruits, yielding about 320,000 tonnes a year. Many farmers have increased their investment in dragon fruits; thus the farming area and output rose. Farmers know how to use heat and techniques to control and stimulate blossoming and ripening, and they can control the harvesting time, fruit size and fruit quality as well. Thus, they can supply the best dragon fruits for domestic and international customers throughout the year at stable prices. Currently, a hectare with 1,000 dragon fruit trees requires investment capital of about VND140 million and bears 35-40 tonnes of fruit a year, for a profit of VND80 to 100 million, about 10 times higher than rice cultivation. The high profit attracts many farmers in Binh Thuan to dragon fruits.

Dragon fruits have improved living standards for more than 20,000 households living in sandy regions, about 60 % of whom earn the bulk of their living on dragon fruit. In the 1990s, dragon fruit plants were poverty relievers for the local people, and they now have become the main breadwinner. Many households have become billionaires thanks to the blue dragon tree.

Towards a specialised farming zone

Binh Thuan has nearly 4,000 ha of dragon fruit trees grown under the VietGAP standards, including 122.8 ha meeting GlobalGAP standards and nearly 860 ha certified by Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), a unit of the US Department of Agriculture. In Binh Thuan province, after examining and supervising processes, APHIS authorised Vietnam’s Plant Quarantine Sub-centre II (under the Department of Plant Protection, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam) to grant Stateside export codes for seven households (Ham Minh Dragon Fruit Co-operative, Hoang Hau Dragon Fruit Co., Ltd, Duy Lan Farm, Phuc Duyen Thinh Trading, Import and Export Co., Ltd, Phuong Giang Trading Private Enterprise, Bao Thanh Co., Ltd, and a Binh Thuan branch of Saigon Trade and Production Development Corporation – SADACO.) With active implementation of these standards, the entire area of dragon fruit trees in Binh Thuan will soon satisfy GAP (good agriculture practice) standards and will be granted VietGAP certificates for export to many markets. For that reason, dragon fruit areas are applied techniques and practices to ensure food safety and other quality requirements in the domestic and international markets.

With the country’s largest productivity and output, Binh Thuan exports some 250,000 tonnes of dragon fruits each year. At present, Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit brand-name has entered many large markets like China, Taiwan, Thailand, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States. However, 90 % of dragon fruits are exported by cross-border trade; thus, sales are not always stable. To enhance product value and boost sales, Binh Thuan is conducting research on diversifying products processed from dragon fruits. According to Bui Dang Hung, President of Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit Association, the province now only supplies fresh fruits to the market. Meanwhile, dragon fruits can be processed into juice, wine, jam and candy which are in demand among Europeans and Americans. Therefore, in the long-term, Binh Thuan will promote investments in processing for such products as juice, canned drink and wine. The value of processed dragon fruits is much higher than fresh fruits, and diversified products will penetrate markets more easily, according to producers. In addition, the provincial agricultural authorities encourage local exporters to expand cooperation with concerned parties, especially farmers, for long-term mutual benefit.

Tags: Vietnam Dragon Fruits exports, Vietnam Fruit exports

Posted by VBN on May 28 2010. Filed under Import-Export, Import-Export turnover. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry