Passion fruit price "nightmare"

07:49, 11/08/2023

In recent days, the price of passion fruit in the province has continuously "fallen" miserably, making farmers extremely worried as they face the risk of heavy losses.

Two years ago, realizing the high economic efficiency of growing passion fruit, many farmers in the province massively expanded the area of this plant. However, recently, the price of passion fruit has dropped sharply, only at 1,200 - 2,000 VND/kg, making people restless.

Mr. Ton Van Giang's family (village 1A, Ea Sien commune, Buon Ho town) has grown 300 passion fruit trees. He has taken advantage of the pepper poles and irrigation system already available in the garden, so he only had to buy more wire to make a trellis; along with seeds and fertilizers, the initial cost was nearly 15 million VND. Mr. Giang said that currently, traders only buy passion fruit at 1,500 VND/kg, so the income is not enough to cover the cost of fertilizer and care.

In 2022, Ms. Le Thanh Ha's family (village 1, Phu Xuan commune, Krong Nang district) rented 5 sao of land for 40 million VND/year to grow 550 passion fruit trees. Along with the cost of seedlings, fertilizers... Ms. Ha's family invested 70 million VND, not to mention the care. Her family expected that this year, the passion fruit growing area would yield up to 10 tons of fruit. However, when it came to harvest, the price of passion fruit dropped sharply, causing her family to suffer heavy losses. "Not only did the selling price drop sharply, the recent prolonged rain caused nearly half of my family's passion fruit garden to collapse, many fruits fell, the quality of the fruit was poor, traders would not buy or force the price very low," Ms. Ha worried.

Ms. Le Thanh Ha's family (village 1, Phu Xuan commune, Krong Nang district) is worried because they have to rent 5 sao of passion fruit fields and the prices are low.

According to Mr. Hoang Tuan (owner of Tuan Ha facility, village 9, Phu Xuan commune, Krong Nang district), who has specialized in purchasing passion fruit for many years, the price of passion fruit has never been as low as it is now. “The supply of passion fruit is too much compared to demand, the factories are overloaded, causing excess production. The factories only work with large passion fruit purchasing units, making it difficult to reach each household, leading to the inevitable drop in passion fruit prices,” Mr. Tuan analyzed.

Through practical research, people are currently planting and caring for passion fruit spontaneously, without a firm grasp of knowledge and care techniques. For passion fruit cultivation, factors such as light, humidity and fertilizer need to be carefully adjusted to ensure good growth of the plant. Due to a lack of mastery of care techniques, many passion fruit areas of people have hard fruit, curled leaves, betel nut residue, brown spots, powdery mildew virus... causing the fruit quality to increasingly deteriorate, leading to a sharp drop in prices.

Although the area of passion fruit cultivation has increased in recent years (currently the whole province has over 2,130 hectares, with an output of 21,150 tons), there is a strong dispersion of production areas. Most passion fruit growing areas are still small-scale, and large-scale production clusters have not yet been formed in the direction of sustainable supply chains. The lack of connection between the production process and the market also creates instability in this industry.

Passion fruit prices have fallen, causing confusion and worry for many households.

Given this reality, it is clear that it is important to listen to and follow the recommendations of experts and professional bodies. People should not expand the area of passion fruit cultivation excessively just for short-term profits. Rapid growth in area can lead to oversupply, causing prices to fall and affecting the income of growers. In addition, it is necessary for management agencies to have a tight and responsible planning for the expansion of passion fruit cultivation areas. This could include creating large-scale production areas, focusing on efficient farming methods and cooperation in the supply chain to ensure the stability and sustainability of the passion fruit industry.

Ngoc Thuy

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