These days, durian growers in Hau Giang province are busy harvesting off-season durian.
Due to the lower fruit set rate compared to the favorable season, durian prices have increased, doubling compared to the favorable season. Currently, traders come to the garden to buy durian at prices ranging from 100,000 - 170,000 VND/kg, depending on the type.
Having just harvested 200 Ri6 durian trees, with a yield of 10 tons after deducting expenses, Mr. Nguyen Van Loc (Chau Thanh district, Hau Giang province) earned a profit of hundreds of millions of dong.
"On average, my durian garden generates about 500 million VND/year. To produce off-season fruit, care requires a lot of effort and technique, but we avoid the situation of supply exceeding demand, so the selling price is higher," said Mr. Loc.
For the favorable crop season, at this time, gardeners will stimulate flowering for the crop in March-April of the following year. For durian to bear fruit in the off-season, Mr. Loc must stimulate flowering 4-5 months in advance.
Predicting the price of durian, gardener Nguyen Van Nhuan (Chau Thanh A district, Hau Giang province) said: Processing durians that are out of season will bring high prices but will cost a lot, and the fruit set rate will be lower than in the normal season. This year, the weather is unstable, so durians flower late, and there are few fruits, so the price has skyrocketed and may remain high from now until next year's fruit season.
It is known that on average, Mr. Nhuan's 8 hectares of durian yield about 7 - 8 tons of fruit. After harvesting, after deducting production costs, he earns a profit of about 350 - 450 million VND/year.
According to records at traditional markets in Hau Giang province and Can Tho city, durian prices are currently quite high due to reduced supply, increasing by about 20,000 - 30,000 VND/kg compared to more than half a month ago. Ri6 durian is from 65,000 - 136,000 VND/kg; Monthong durian is from 170,000 - 195,000 VND/kg, depending on size.
According to the review of Hau Giang agriculture sector, the whole province currently has more than 2,500 hectares of durian, grown mainly in Chau Thanh A, Phung Hiep, Chau Thanh districts, and Nga Bay city.
Currently, in the province, many types of fruit trees have decreased in area significantly compared to the same period, especially the area of durian trees has increased sharply (more than 600 hectares) compared to the same period because durian fruit has had a high selling price recently.
According to agricultural experts, durian is a difficult crop to care for, sensitive to weather conditions and requires high technical skills. Therefore, although the economic value of this crop is high, the authorities recommend that people consider carefully before expanding the planting area to avoid oversupply, causing significant losses to growers.
