Soc Trang cooperates with businesses in growing passion fruit

Farmer Nguyen Huu Cong in Phung Son hamlet, Song Phung commune, Long Phu district, Soc Trang province is the owner of the brand “Sau Cong sweet passion fruit”. The brand has been certified by the Provincial People's Committee as a 3-star OCOP product.

Mr Cong confided that in 2017, after many times of research on scientific documents, he discovered that the passion fruit variety that people in the Western region recognised is from the same family as Longan. From here, he came up with the idea of grafting passion fruit with longan roots to cross-pollinate the plants through the technical support of a number of agricultural experts in Soc Trang province and Can Tho University.

He succeeded in his trials. In 2019, for the first time, passion fruit was harvested with a sweet, slightly sour taste, and the faint scent of longan. Mr Cong assessed that, compared to other types of passion fruit currently on the market, such as: Purple passion fruit, flower passion fruit, and pink passion fruit... the passion fruit grafted with longan is not large, but thanks to its rich sweetness, it is popular in the market. The price is quite expensive, if traders purchase it at the garden, it will cost VND 80,000/kg, for retail customers the price will range from VND 100,000 - 120,000/kg.

In 2020, the product was first introduced to consumers at the Oc Om Bok festival in Soc Trang province. Appreciating the ideas and creativity of farmers, provincial leaders and the Soc Trang agricultural sector have encouraged and created all conditions to support Mr Cong. He is able to preserve and propagate plants. Especially, he received guidance on the technical production process according to VietGAP standards and how to be certified and increase the value of the product.

Currently, Mr Cong owns more than 1.5 ha of passion fruit cultivation, of which about 6,000 m2 are producing fruit. At the same time, this farmer also linked up with some neighbouring people to build a raw material area of up to 3 - 4 ha.

On average each year, Mr. Cong supplies the market with 4-6 tons of passion fruit, mainly serving the domestic market. In addition, the number of passion fruit vines grafted with longan sold ranges from 6,000 - 7,000 vines. The prices range from VND 70,000 - 100,000 (depending on quantity).

Already highly appreciated for its product quality, the brand "Sau Cong sweet passion fruit" is known to a large number of consumers throughout the country thanks to a particular farmer's unique and durable way of promoting his products. Even though he is 64 years old, most fairs and trade promotion programs in the province, the Mekong Delta region or in the Northern and Central region, Mr. Cong and his son both brought their products to display, introduce and seek sales leads. He also fully exploited social networking platforms to promote products.

Mr Cong assessed that currently, the market demand for passion fruit is very high. In particular, since China agreed to pilot the import of Vietnamese passion fruit in July 2022, many businesses contacted him and asked about purchasing and export links. However, the current output of his gardens is not enough to provide a large and stable source of goods for businesses.

Mr. Tran Vinh Nghi, Director of the Soc Trang Crop Production and Plant Protection Subdepartment said that passion fruit is not yet a key local crop, it is grown by farmers scattered in several localities on a small scale. From the actual economic efficiency that the model brings to farmers, the province's agricultural sector is orienting farmers to develop plantations on a large scale, forming concentrated raw material areas, and facilitating the construction of planting area codes.

The province wants to invite businesses to link up and consume products to create confidence for people to develop production and enter the Chinese market and other countries.

Additionally, the Provincial Crop Production and Plant Protection Subdepartment also recommends that people develop technical procedures for growing and caring for sweet passion fruit. They need to focus on using organic and biological fertilizers to ensure fruit quality and good control of pesticide residues... This is an important basis for Soc Trang passion fruit to be exported smoothly when completing the necessary conditions and procedures.