Fruit and vegetable export boom: Position of Southwestern dragon fruit

Forming concentrated commodity areas

Cho Gao is the largest dragon fruit growing area in Tien Giang province, with approximately 6,900 ha. Of which, 5,850 ha are fruiting, with a harvest output of 190,000 tons/year. More particularly, about 2,200 ha of dragon fruit are produced according to VietGAP standards, and over 300 ha are produced according to GlobalGAP standards. As of now, Cho Gao dragon fruit has been granted collective trademark protection by the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam.

To create linkages as well as organize production in accordance with market needs, Cho Gao district has formed cooperatives and cooperative groups to gather farmers, train, and transfer farming techniques towards GAP to produce safe and traceable products while enhancing product promotion and trade promotion.

Typically, Hung Thinh Phat Clean Agricultural Cooperative in Quon Long commune, Cho Gao district, has built dragon fruit growing areas according to VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, with 39 members of 8 cooperative groups participating in production on an area of 132 ha.

"We focus on building a linkage chain, especially expanding the clean dragon fruit production model to aim at exporting to demanding markets," said Mr. Nguyen Trung Quy, Director of Hung Thinh Phat Clean Agricultural Cooperative.

According to Mr. Quy, the Cooperative has currently completed the dossiers of application for 8 growing area codes to export to other countries and has been licensed to export to the US and China. The Cooperative's dragon fruit was also awarded a 4-star OCOP certificate by Tien Giang province. This is a good sign for cooperative members when the Cooperative's dragon fruit can penetrate into demanding markets in the future.

Hung Thinh Phat Cooperative has invested in building a factory, a closed production line with modern machinery and equipment, cold storage, etc. to process and pack dragon fruits for export according to HACCP standards, ensuring food hygiene and safety conditions.

To support cooperatives, Vice Chairman of the Cho Gao District People's Committee Cao Tan Huong directed the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with local authorities to continue transferring technical advances and new technologies into production to improve the yield and quality of dragon fruit products, thereby meeting the requirements of export markets.

Determining dragon fruit as the locality's specialty fruit that has competitive advantage and brings high export value, Tien Giang has built areas specializing in dragon fruit farming for export, with an area of nearly 8,600 ha concentrated in Cho Gao, Go Cong Tay, and Go Cong Dong districts. At the same time, over 2,300 ha of dragon fruit meeting GAP standards have been built, of which 2,196 ha are certified as VietGAP and 110 ha are certified as GlobalGAP. Tien Giang also sets a target that by 2025 there will be 3,600 ha of dragon fruit area meeting GAP criteria.

Up to now, the whole province has 80 dragon fruit growing area codes with an area of more than 6,140 ha to export to Japan, the US, South Korea, Australia, etc. This is considered an important "passport" for Tien Giang dragon fruit to be able to strongly penetrate into demanding markets around the world.

Mr. Nguyen Van Man, Director of Tien Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: The locality is calling on and encouraging businesses to invest in factories to process products from dragon fruit, contributing to solving the output problem for dragon fruit during the peak harvest season.

Constantly "refresh" to adapt

With the outstanding economic efficiency of dragon fruit, Long An province also chose dragon fruit as one of four crops to develop high-tech agriculture.

Leading us to visit high-tech dragon fruit gardens, Mr. Nguyen Van Hon, former official of Tam Vu town, Chau Thanh district, excitedly said: In the context of increasingly fierce competition, dragon fruit growing cooperatives and farmers in Long An are constantly "refreshing" to adapt. A typical example is the high-tech dragon fruit growing model of Long Hoi Cooperative (An Luc Long commune, Chau Thanh district).

This cooperative with over 60 members currently has more than 50 ha of dragon fruit produced according to VietGAP standards, which is purchased by the company at a stable price, VND 5,000–7,000/kg higher than the market. On average, each year, cooperative members earn a profit of about VND 300 million/ha.

"We are investing in the application of economical irrigation systems to reduce labor and input costs while increasing economic efficiency compared to traditional production," said Mr. Truong Minh Trung, Director of Long Hoi Cooperative Khoi.

Farmer Ngo Van Nhan in Binh Dien hamlet, Binh Tinh commune, Tan Tru district affirmed that, converting 1.5 ha of ineffective rice-growing land to growing red-flesh dragon fruit and equipping an automatic and economical irrigation system have helped his family's dragon fruit garden always achieve an average yield of 18–20 tons/ha/crop, earning a profit of over VND 500 million/year.

Currently, many local households are also converting and actively participating in high-tech dragon fruit farming. They are supported by functional sectors with guidance on effective farming techniques and safer and more sustainable production. To date, farmer households have all received "sweet fruits."

According to the Long An Dragon Fruit Association, up to now, the whole province has had 236 dragon fruit growing area codes granted for export to markets around the world. Thereby, enhancing the reputation and brand of Long An's dragon fruit.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Trinh, Chairman of Long An Dragon Fruit Association, said: "The province is dividing the area scale of growing area codes into each hamlet and each cooperative group. At the same time, promote the application of science and technology in high-tech dragon fruit farming in order to well meet export markets." 

The entire Long An province has developed 4,000 ha of high-tech dragon fruit, and the goal is to increase it to 6,000 ha by 2025. The association and cooperatives are implementing clean dragon fruit growing models in an organic direction, especially paying attention to regulations and requirements from export markets to have stable output.

There are currently two main varieties of dragon fruit in production in Vietnam: red-flesh dragon fruit and white-flesh dragon fruit. Among them, the red-flesh dragon fruit variety is a staple in Long An province, accounting for 97% of the area, and Tien Giang (71%). As of now, dragon fruit trees have formed concentrated commodity production areas in Long An and Tien Giang, favorable for organizing large-scale production for export.