Profit hundreds of millions of dong
Although it is only the beginning of the harvest season, star apple growers in Ke Sach district (Soc Trang province) are very excited to have their fruit exported to the US market at a fairly high price.
Mr. Tran Van Phuong - Director of Xom Dong 2 Agricultural Cooperative (Thoi An Hoi Commune, Ke Sach District, Soc Trang Province) - excitedly said that the price of pink avocado milk fruit this year is 5,000 - 10,000 VND/kg higher than the same period last year. Enterprises buy for export at 60,000 VND/kg, while market prices are also at 50,000 - 55,000 VND/kg. With stable fruit-bearing gardens and current output and selling prices, farmers earn a profit of 250 - 300 million VND/ha.
Mr. Phuong said that in addition to export, the cooperative's pink avocado milk fruit is also supplied to the domestic market at supermarkets and clean agricultural product stores...
Similarly, members of Loc Mai Agricultural Cooperative (Trinh Phu commune, Ke Sach district, Soc Trang province) also have profits of 400 - 600 million VND/ha thanks to growing star apples for export.
Mr. Su Quoc Loc - Director of Loc Mai Agricultural Cooperative - said: This year's milk fruit crop, the Cooperative has cooperated with 4 companies for export. The guaranteed purchase price is 45,000 VND/kg at the beginning of the crop and 32,000 VND/kg from mid- to late crop. For nearly a month now, the Cooperative has cooperated to export about 30 tons of milk fruit to the US, Russia, Hong Kong (China)... The export situation is very promising, everyone is happy.
Mr. Loc informed that the association with export-purchasing enterprises has helped star apple growers stabilize their lives, with an average profit of 200 - 300 million VND higher per hectare than before exporting.
Spread out the crop to expand export routes
Mr. Su Quoc Loc - Director of Loc Mai Agricultural Cooperative - added that in order to proactively provide a continuous supply of goods, from the 2022 - 2023 crop year, the Cooperative has applied the technique of spreading fruit out over the season. The harvest time is longer and does not ripen concentratedly as before, so the products are not congested and the selling price is always high.
"The star apple season starts from the end of the 10th lunar month to the 2nd lunar month of the following year. When applying the technique of spreading the fruit, the season lasts until the 5th and 6th lunar months. At that time, most localities no longer have star apples to export, but on the contrary, the cooperative still has a source to supply," said Mr. Loc.
According to Mr. Su Quoc Loc, the treatment of fruit trees in different seasons has brought positive results as it does not increase costs, maintains productivity compared to the favorable season (about 20 tons/ha) and the selling price is about 10,000 VND/kg higher, thereby increasing profits by 150 million VND/ha compared to the favorable season.
Mr. Tran Van Phuong - Director of Xom Dong 2 Agricultural Cooperative - said that the cooperative has a cultivation area of nearly 40 hectares of pink avocado. The fruit output supplied to the market is from 180 - 200 tons/year, however, the current output is not enough to supply the export and domestic markets. Mr. Phuong said that currently, some areas have applied techniques for trees to produce fruit in different seasons, in the next 2 years, the supply could be up to 400 tons/year.
Since the first shipment was exported to the United States in 2018, Soc Trang has become the locality with the second largest export output of star apples in the Mekong Delta. If in the 2018-2019 star apple crop, Soc Trang only exported 32 tons, then in 2023-2024 it will be about 200 tons of fruit. Soc Trang now has about 2,300 hectares of star apples with varieties such as purple star apple, purple four-season star apple, pink avocado, purple peach.
