Upheaval of Vietnamese Fruits

“Good harvest means lower commercial value” repeats year after year. This year, at the beginning of season, the prices of fruit were at the highest but now they start to be on the sharp decline.

No way out

Mr Duong Van Huyen, Chairman of Cai Mon seedling Co-operative, Cho Lach district (Ben Tre province) said: About 2 months ago, traders searched to buy mangosteens in the garden at prices ranging from 40,000 VND to 60,000 VND per kilo, and even 70,000 per kilo, but now fall down from 20,000 VND to 25,000 VND per kilo. Similarly, rambutan is from 10,000 VND to 15,000 VND per kilo but now down to only 3000 VND – 4000 per kilo.

Although prices have fallen sharply, many people fear that Mekong Delta rambutan will continue to decrease due to the competition of Long Khanh rambutan (Dong Nai) and the North lychee.

In Ngu Hiep commune, Cai Lay district (Tien Giang), there are 1,257 hectares of durian with the yield of 38,000 – 40,000 tons per year. Earlier this season, the price of gold rice durian was 26,000 VND per kilo, now only 20,000 VND per kilo; green melon durian from 9,000 – 12,000 VND per kilo drop down 5000-6000 per kilo. In coming time, if the prices continue to come down, the growers will face with more difficulties.

Mr Lu Van Thien, Vinh Thanh commune, Cho Lach district acknowledges the current prices of fruits are not so much at a loss but not much profitable because the cost of materials and labor rises.

While the gardener plant fruit trees in the Mekong Delta throbbing with the scene “to season, dropped price”, the Institute of Research of Southern Fruit said that our fruits are “expensive” compared with some countries in the region. For example, Thailand’s mangosteen is about 8,000 VND – 10,000 VND/ kilo, much lower than ours, while China’s fruits are also lower than Vietnam. Thus, the foreign fruits overwhelm local fruits.

“Backward cultivation, production in the form of small household economy, investment without powerful applications of science and technology advances … is leading to high production cost. On the other hand, purchasing systems through many intermediaries make the price of fruit in the garden very low but very high in the market, therefore lose competitiveness “- Dr. Nguyen Minh Chau, Director of Institute of Research of Southern Fruit said.

Attempts to find a new direction

According to Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the fruit market is very wide and Vietnam has favorable conditions for fruit development, the solution is to change the old farming practices boldly and switch to a new way of working quickly. Accordingly, it is needed to invest more in fruit sector, focus on food safety, quality standards such as Global GAP, VIETGAP …etc.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Chau said that Vietnam is having many great opportunities to speed up its position, but also facing with many challenges in the integration process. The model of individual production, little yield, uneven quality, unapplied mechanization, improper packed fruit, lack of brand, advertisement and marketing… must be addressed as soon as possible.

It is needed to learn the experiences of production of Taiwan (China), which has small area as Mekong Delta but they participate in cooperative model effectively and produce one product but giving high yield, even quality, and enough supply for exports throughout a year. While Vietnam is raising void to build large intensive area with thousands of hectares, forming a new type of cooperative … but so far has not done, due to lack of “conductor”?!

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mekong Delta provinces proposed to reorganise production and the State must be the “conductor”. In fact, many farmers have the need to reform gardens into specialized gardens and the desire to produce according to international standards; however, they do not have capital, so they are standing in their own feet.

Dr. Duong Nghia Quoc, Deputy Director of Dong Thap Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: “There has been a solution of science and technology for the treatment of yellow leave disease on orange trees, tangerine … etc. But to apply effectively, they must cut off the whole area of disease and re-planting, which takes time for at least 3-4 years. Because the State do not have a capital support mechanism, so gardens are unable to do anything. Finally, they use floating seedlings again and disease is still rampant”.

To resolve this, the State should direct banks to join in, give priorities for loans to intensive farming areas. In addition, the State should support businesses investing in cold storage, warehouse to keep fruits fresh for export.

Mr Nguyen Van Khang, Vice Chairman of People Committee of Tien Giang province, confirmed: “It is necessary to invest more strongly for fruit to create new position in the international market. If compared with seafood, rice … the investment of State for fruit trees is too bad. Parallel to produce “clean”, we should invest in post-harvest preservation, processing and export … We must do it drastically in order to create a synchronous move and promote fruit development.

Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has approved the development plan of fruit in 2010 and Vision 2020. Of which, three key areas of fruit production are Mekong Delta (380,000 ha), South East (150,000 ha), the northern mountainous area (230,000 ha). Basically, the area of fruit has almost reached the plan and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development requires localities to select some major trees to grow. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bui Ba Bong, said that fruit plan is more difficult than other crops because fruit trees are various and growing in many areas with different ecological conditions. Therefore, we should not development in the mass, but grow synchronously associated with the purchasing and consumption to form the production area. Typically, Binh Thuan has grown dragon fruit in a total area of 10,000 hectares, which is a good production area for export, redressing the ineffective growing as many places.

Tags: Vietnam agriculture, Vietnam fruits