Tien Giang to produce more dragon fruit as part of climate-change adaptation plan

Tien Giang (VNS/VNA) - The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang, the country's largest fruit producer, is expanding its dragon fruit growing area as part of its agricultural restructuring and climate-change adaptation plans.

Tien Giang has nearly 10,000ha of dragon fruit. Of the specialised dragon fruit area of 7,400ha in Cho Gao district, more than 5,200 ha have yielded an annual output of 162,000 tonnes.

Dragon fruit, one of the province’s key specialty fruits, has competitive advantages and can adapt to climate change.

Ngo Huu Tue, secretary of the Cho Gao District Party Committee, said to improve quality and competitiveness at home and abroad, the district has encouraged farmers to grow the fruit under Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP) standards.

Last year, the province granted VietGAP certificates for 1,118ha of dragon fruit in the district, taking the district’s total VietGAP dragon fruit area to 2,180ha, up 9.2 percent of the target set for last year.

Duong Thanh Tam, who grows a 0.9ha red-flesh dragon fruit orchard in Cho Gao’s Tan Thuan Binh commune, said that under VietGAP standards, farmers use mainly biological pesticides and organic fertilisers.

Instead of using concrete posts to grow dragon fruits under traditional growing methods, Tam uses trellises, which offer higher yield and quality.

He earns a profit of 600 million VND (26,000 USD) a year from his orchard.

Many rice farmers in the district have switched to growing GAP-standard dragon fruit and have joined agricultural co-operatives to secure outlets for their produce.

Le Van Thuy in Cho Gao’s My Tinh An commune said he turned his 1ha unproductive rice field into dragon fruit using Global GAP standards, and joined the My Tinh An Dragon Fruit Co-operative.

Thuy has also used advanced farming techniques like irrigation spraying and electric lamps at night to stimulate growth in order to produce off-season fruits that sell at higher prices.

Thuy and other co-operative members have been trained in farming techniques under VietGAP and Global GAP standards. Their cost of registering for VietGAP and Global GAP certificates is also subsidised.

Thuy has a farm contract with outlets which ensures a minimum price of 10,000 VND a kilogramme. He earns nearly 1 billion VND (43,400 USD) a year from growing the fruit under Global GAP standards.

“The profit is more than 10 times higher than from high-quality rice,” he said.

The price of off-season dragon fruit is normally three times higher than the price of main season dragon fruit. Off-season red-flesh dragon yielded an average profit of 300 million VND (13,000 USD) per hectare a crop for farmers. The off-season harvest of dragon fruit lasts between November and April.

The district’s dragon fruit was awarded a collective brand name “Thanh long Cho Gao” by the National Office of Intellectual Property.

The district’s dragon fruit has been exported to many markets, including the EU and the US.

Cho Gao district plans to expand its specialised dragon fruit growing area to more than 7,500ha by the end of this year.

It also plans to have an additional 500ha of dragon fruit granted VietGAP certificates this year, taking the district’s total VietGAP area to 2,684ha by the end of this year.

The district will provide VietGAP standard farming techniques to about 1,800 farmers this year, and strengthen linkages between farmers and buyers.

The district has nearly 9,400ha of various types of fruits, including dragon fruit, and green-skin and pink-flesh grapefruit./.