Unfavorable weather
In recent days, Dak Lak province has continuously experienced prolonged heavy rains, causing many durian growers to worry. Because this is the time when durian trees need sunny weather to rice well, have a beautiful yellow color and not get deflated.
Mr. Ama Buk (residing in Cuor Dang commune) said that his family has 130 durian trees that are in the harvest season. However, the prolonged rain in recent days has made him restless.
High humidity is an ideal condition for fungi to grow, causing rot. Not to mention, heavy rain also makes durian rice taste bland, not sweet and prone to waterlogging, said Mr. Ama Buk.
Previously, Mr. Ama Buk's durian garden also encountered many difficulties during the flowering and bearing period. He said that right when the plants were flowering, they encountered prolonged rain, causing the flower buds to be damaged, leading to mass flower falls and low fruit set rate.
To save the situation, he was forced to invest in more fertilizers and stimulate other flowering plants in the hope of having more fruits to harvest.
Similarly, Mr. Y Mak Mlo, in Ea Tul commune, is also worried about more than 100 durian trees being harvested. According to Mr. Y Mak, this year the harsh weather has caused the plants to bloom and bear fruit later than usual, forcing him to stimulate flowering many times.
Currently, his durian garden has only bearing fruit for about 95 days, while at the same time last year, the fruit was old and ready for harvest.
Mr. Y Mak is closely monitoring the weather situation, hoping that the weather will be sunny again so that the durian garden can develop smoothly, avoid pests, mold and especially rice cowards. "If there are the above problems, the fruit will lose quality, the price will be forced by traders, causing disadvantages for growers," he said.
Sharing more about the production situation, Mr. Y Tiep Nie - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Ea Tul commune - said that this year's weather has fluctuated unpredictably, causing some durian gardens to be affected and productivity to decrease. Currently, people are focusing on taking care of the garden during the water recedes, making efforts to ensure fruit quality.
"People pay special attention to taking care of the fruit so that the durian rice has a beautiful yellow color, is fine-goden, smooth and not mushy," said Mr. Y Tiep.
Standardizing quality for durian growing areas
Mr. Le Anh Trung - Chairman of the Dak Lak Durian Association - said that currently, importing markets continue to tighten quality control procedures. Enterprises purchasing durian for export are also increasingly cautious, checking quality carefully and no longer buying massively as before.
To improve product quality, the Association has invited experts and scientists to organize training sessions, and at the same time coordinated with relevant organizations to improve and standardize growing areas.
In order to ensure the durian crop goes smoothly, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak province has directed specialized units to deploy many sustainable production solutions to ensure food safety.
Accordingly, the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection is in charge of controlling product quality in the growing area. The Agricultural Extension Center organizes propaganda, technical training, and builds a sustainable production model.
The Department of Rural Development promotes communication to cooperatives and cooperative groups and supports the development of linkage chains in the production, processing and export of durian.
