Passion fruit price drops dramatically

Farmers don't bother to harvest

In the past few days, the passion fruit price in Gia Lai province has continuously decreased, making many households very worried. Recorded in localities with large areas of passion fruit plantations such as Chu Pah, Ia Grai, and Dak Doa districts..., traders come to buy passion fruit for only about VND 2,500 - 3,000/kg for ladle passion fruit (passion fruit for extract), sold in the market are purchased for about VND 5,000/kg. While only a few months ago, the passion fruit price fluctuated above VND 10,000 /kg.

The price of passion fruit dropped dramatically, causing many households to worry about losing crops. Many families are even pessimistic about breaking down the passion fruit garden to switch to other crops. 

Recorded in Chu Pah district, the prolonged heavy rain in the past few days has made the atmosphere gloomy over the passion fruit growing households. Tran Van Thanh (village 3, Ia Nhin commune) is working hard to pick up each fallen lemon and put it in a ready-made sack.

He said that last year when the price of passion fruit increased, people in Chu Pah district massively gathered land areas belonging to coffee areas waiting to be replanted to grow passion fruit. Seeing that, he also decided to sow passion fruit in his family's place of 1.5 hectares. The total investment in the passion fruit garden is more than VND 200 million. The family is expected to harvest in five months. The profit would be three times higher than the investment amount.

That's it, but when it comes to harvesting, the price of passion fruit drops to only VND 8,000/kg and then continues down to VND 5,000/kg. Now, traders come to buy only VND 3,000 /kg. 

In Dak Doa district, passion fruit is grown by people spread over more than 600 hectares. Many people's passion fruit gardens are being harvested along the roads from Ha Bau commune to Nam Yang commune. However, because the passion fruit price is too low, many households still try to anchor the fruit, prolonging the harvest time even though the fruit falls with the desire to have a "miracle" to help the price of lemon increase. Households who need to be patient enough must accept to sell off to calculate the option to convert to other crops.

Struggling to destroy the family's 6-sao passion fruit garden, Tran Van Hai (village 76, Ha Bau commune) said that the family's passion fruit garden had been planted for more than one year before it was harvested a few times with a price over VND 10,000/kg. But then, the price went down. The latest traders came to buy only VND 2,500 /kg.

Gia Lai province currently has more than 5,000 hectares of passion fruit with about 20 packing facilities and 19 growing areas that have been granted codes. It is worth mentioning that in the province, there are many large passion fruit processing factories in operation, and the area of this tree has stayed within the recommendation of the agricultural industry. However, the price is still "plunging."

It is recommended not to expand the area massively

Le Van Thanh, Director of Ia Mo Nong Agricultural Tourism Service Trade Cooperative (Chu Pah district), said that when the passion fruit price increased, people massively expanded the area, leading to supply exceeding the demand.

Similarly, Nguyen The Minh, Director of Nghia Hoa Agricultural Service Cooperative (Chu Pah district), said that the cooperative still supports the purchase of passion fruit for people at the best price. However, the cost of passion fruit has recently dropped, so many people would instead not take care of their gardens, leading to poor quality. If the lemon is of good quality, the cooperative still buys it for people at VND 5,000-6,000 /kg. 

Regarding the cause of the fall in the price of passion fruit, Minh said that people planted it massively when the cost of passion fruit increased. In contrast, the plan to develop the passion fruit area of the purchasing factories and the people needs to be more suitable. For example, the price will be stable for a factory with a capacity of 500,000 tons, how many growers, and how much area is enough. At present, people are planting massively, causing excess passion fruit output outside the production plan of factories, leading to inevitable low prices.

Also, according to Minh, to stabilize the passion fruit market, it is necessary to have help from the government to have specific strategic planning; otherwise, people massively plant and then massively destroy. 

Nguyen Kim Anh, Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Dak Doa district, said that the price of passion fruit fell as low as VND 3,000/kg as if people were not profitable.