Good weather for falling prices
Recalling the "golden" days of the jackfruit, Mr. Tran Van Tam (a gardener in Phong Dien district, Can Tho city) could not help but feel regretful. Mr. Tam said that if over the years, many years of cultivation experience have been accumulated, and the productivity of Thai jackfruit is getting higher and higher, then on the contrary, prices have fallen miserably.
"This year, Thai jackfruit is in good harvest but the price is only 2,000 - 3,000 VND/kg, at times traders buy less than 2,000 VND/kg. This price is about 10 times lower than the first years I planted. Even though I lost money, I still had to sell to traders. Otherwise, only the picked water will be lost, affecting both the yield of the next crop and the crop," said Mr. Tam.
Low prices, but for the past 2-3 years, Mr. Tam has been trying to maintain production in the hope that the market will improve, as well as regretting the costs invested in the garden.
Having been attached to plum trees for 20 years, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hoang ( gardener in Thot Not district, Can Tho city) is gradually changing direction, switching to cultivating other crops to find new opportunities.
Sharing about the current difficulties of plums, gardeners confided that plum prices have dropped rapidly from 15,000 - 16,000 VND/kg (on-call) to about 5,000 VND/kg (on-call). Meanwhile, the average production cost is from 3,000 - 5,000 VND/kg. With this price, many gardeners have chosen not to harvest because there is no profit, even losing more money to hire workers.
"In recent years, I have combined tourism development in plum gardens to improve income, but at the same time, I have also started growing grapefruits. Through the harvests, grapefruit yields are quite stable with better prices, Mr. Hoang shared.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Van Nam (a gardener in Phong Dien district, Can Tho city) is concerned about destroying the green mulberry garden to replace it with other crops. According to Mr. Nam, mulberry is a local specialty fruit. However, due to lack of prices, many mulberry growers have cut their gardens to grow star apple, durian, or even tourism.
"In the early years, green mulberry was purchased by traders from 15,000 - 18,000 VND/kg, but now this price is only half. My family and I are thinking about switching to growing durian if the situation is not improving. However, the capital for conversion is also a challenge, said Mr. Nam.
Promoting the processing and preservation industry
In 2024, the area of fruit trees in Can Tho City will be about 26,000 hectares, with an output of over 200,000 tons. Recently, the agricultural sector of Can Tho City has built a key fruit growing area; formed typical branded products and concentrated production areas with an area of over 12,000 hectares, including crops such as durian, longan, soursop, Phong Dien star apple, etc.
Orientation in 2025 and the coming time, the City's agricultural sector will continue to implement solutions to promote fruit tree production, develop multi-value integrated agriculture for sustainable development; Promote the development, form concentrated and specialized fruit tree production areas, create conditions to establish growing area codes. At the same time, support farmers in applying Mechanization and technical advances, linking with businesses to ensure stable output.
Notably, the local agricultural sector will promote the development of supporting sectors, including the preservation and processing industry of fruits to support the development of sustainable fruit trees; continue to coordinate and support localities in developing fruit tree cultivation associated with the development of OCOP products from processed fruits and developing fruit tree models associated with eco-tourism.
