On February 11, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Khanh - a trader specializing in purchasing dragon fruit to supply to the domestic market said that dragon fruit prices are currently low.
White-flesh dragon fruit at the garden costs about 12,000 VND/kg; the price of red-flesh dragon fruit ranges from 15,000 - 16,000 VND/kg. While yellow-skinned dragon fruit attracts customers to buy for fruit trays, priced at over 40,000 VND/kg.
According to traders, the price of dragon fruit has decreased because at this time many gardens are ripe, harvesting simultaneously, so the fruit output is large.
In Ham Thanh commune, Lam Dong province, dragon fruit prices are currently down more than half compared to the beginning of the season (the beginning of the season was 24,000 - 30,000 VND/kg). With this price level, growers only earn low profits, even break even due to increased investment costs in electricity, fertilizer and labor hire.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tuan - a dragon fruit grower in Ham Thanh commune said that he has invested in careful care of this off-season dragon fruit crop to kịp supply the Tet Nguyen Dan Binh Ngo market.
With an area of 8,000 m2 of white flesh dragon fruit, Mr. Tuan's garden has just sold about 6 tons of fruit at a price of 12,000 VND. Compared to less than a month ago, the above price is only 1/2.
Although the price has decreased compared to the beginning of the season, the fruit quality in this off-season is uniform, about 700 - 800g/fruit, so traders buy the entire garden, selecting fewer fruits compared to the main season.
Although dragon fruit prices have dropped sharply, deducting electricity, fertilizer and care costs, the family still has a profit of about ten million to cover the upcoming Tet and invest in a new crop," Mr. Tuan said.
Many gardeners in Ham Thanh commune said that the main dragon fruit crop usually lasts from March to mid-September of the solar calendar every year. After the end of the main dragon fruit harvest, growers will continue to take care of the garden, light lamps to stimulate the plant to bloom off-season.
Off-season production, although costly, has beautiful fruits, uniform quality, high output, and more stable output.
This year's off-season, due to the impact of storms and cold weather, the power generation time is prolonged, and the output is lower than in previous years.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Lam Dong province, the whole province currently has 25,800ha of dragon fruit with an estimated output of more than 560,000 tons/year, concentrated in the eastern localities of the province.
In which, the area of dragon fruit produced according to VietGAP standards reached more than 10,000ha; according to GlobalGAP standards over 3,000ha. The whole province currently has 106 growing area codes with 14,377ha to markets in the United States, China, Japan, Korea...
