In the early days of July, the red-flesh dragon fruit garden located in the midst of the rocky hills in Uong Bi ward (Quang Ninh) began to enter the first harvest season of the year. Although it is only the first harvest, the number of customers coming to order has exceeded the existing output, causing gardeners at many times not daring to accept more orders.
Few people thought that on this land once considered barren and rocky, a 5ha wide red-flesh dragon fruit garden could be formed. This is the 10th year that the TL5 dragon fruit variety, also known as the "queen" dragon fruit, has been planted here.
After many years of organic care, the tree has adapted well to local soil conditions and become one of the agricultural production models that brings high economic efficiency.
As someone who has been attached to the dragon fruit garden since the early days of reclaiming barren land, Mr. Truong Quang Dao said that this dragon fruit variety has large, sweet fruits and yields many crops a year.
Each year, the tree can bear 10-12 batches of fruit, lasting from June to the end of December, some years extending to January of the following year. The highest yield can reach 25-30 tons/ha. We cultivate organic, so the fruit is large, sweet, and very popular with customers.
There are many groups of students coming here to visit and experience the dragon fruit garden," Mr. Dao shared.
According to him, if in the early years of planting, it is necessary to proactively find outlets and promote them on social networks, in recent years, dragon fruit has just ripened and customers have called to order in advance.
This year is only the first batch of fruit, but there have been more than 10 customers ordering, some people ordered tons. Many times we don't even dare to accept more orders because we are afraid of not having enough goods to deliver," Mr. Dao said.
This year's first batch of dragon fruit is purchased by traders at the garden at a price of about 25,000 VND/kg. This model also brings jobs to some local workers.
Mr. Nguyen Ton Quyen - owner of the farm, said that red flesh dragon fruit has higher yields than citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruits. He has also built a stable customer base, especially in the Hanoi market. Many people after using have become regular customers, each season proactively contacting to order early, but sometimes supply does not meet demand.
10 years ago, he invested in 5ha of organic dragon fruit, choosing the TL5 variety imported from the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Although at that time there were few people growing this dragon fruit variety, the tree was suitable for Uong Bi land.
The journey of building dragon fruit gardens is not always smooth. When super typhoon Yagi made landfall, many areas of dragon fruit were heavily damaged. Many tree pillars were broken and fallen, affecting production.
However, after the natural disaster, the garden owner quickly replanted damaged trees, renovated the trellis system and focused on care to restore production.
Mr. Quyen hopes that in the coming time, he will expand the area of dragon fruit cultivation, build a brand and achieve VietGAP certification to improve product value.
According to local people, this dragon fruit variety has large fruits, many fruits weighing nearly 1kg, dark red flesh, sweet taste, and is highly appreciated by consumers.
