Suitable for sunny and windy lands, dragon fruit was once known as a "hunger-eliminating, poverty-reducing" crop. At its peak, it was also considered a "get-rich" crop for a part of Binh Thuan farmers.
Therefore, in the period 2011 - 2020, the area of dragon fruit in the whole province increased from 18,616 hectares to about 33,750 hectares, corresponding to an increase in output from nearly 397,600 tons to more than 698,000 tons/year. Thanks to that, it helps to significantly improve the income of nearly 30,000 households and contribute to creating jobs for tens of thousands of workers, while being the main export product of the local agricultural product group.
However, in recent years, the production and consumption of Binh Thuan dragon fruit have encountered many difficulties due to low selling prices while labor and fertilizer costs are increasing. In addition, the average yield per hectare of dragon fruit has tended to decrease, mainly due to the degeneration of varieties and overexploitation, leading to tree exhaustion and reduced resistance to pests and diseases. In particular, the disease situation on dragon fruit trees has not been thoroughly treated. According to the survey data of the Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection of Binh Thuan, there are up to 19 pests and diseases on this crop. Of which, there are 6 main pests and diseases: fruit flies, mealybugs (quarantine subjects of Southeast Asian markets), snails, root rot, anthracnose and brown spot disease. In fact, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, which has broken the supply chain, agricultural production in general and dragon fruit growers in particular have become even more difficult. And from 2021, both the area and output of Binh Thuan dragon fruit will gradually decrease to about 27,780 hectares with an output of 594,000 tons in 2022...
In addition to the above difficulties, Binh Thuan's advantageous products also have to compete with dragon fruit from other provinces and cities such as Tien Giang, Long An (where there are concentrated dragon fruit growing areas) and more than 30 localities that can grow this type of tree with a scale of 100 - 300 hectares... In addition, the area of dragon fruit in the world continues to increase, especially China - the traditional and main market for importing dragon fruit from Vietnam has increased its area significantly in recent times. With India considered a large and potential market, there is also a policy to increase production to serve domestic demand with an area of 3,000 - 50,000 hectares in the next 5 years.
Therefore, it is forecasted that in the coming time, the output of Binh Thuan dragon fruit may face many challenges because the production linkage according to the value chain associated with processing and consumption does not currently meet the requirements of large-scale production. Meanwhile, domestic consumption accounts for only about 15% of output and the remaining 85% is exported (to date, Binh Thuan dragon fruit has been exported to more than 20 markets, mainly Asia). However, in the export, about 2 - 3% is official export, the remaining 97 - 98% is traded in the form of border trade with Chinese traders, or sold to businesses outside the province for direct export...
To maintain and promote the brand of Binh Thuan's advantageous products, the locality has promoted the development of a "Dragon fruit development project in the province until 2030". Recently, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee (term XIV) also held a meeting to collect opinions so that the Provincial People's Committee can soon issue a Decision approving this project. The goal is to stabilize the dragon fruit area in the whole province at about 25,000 hectares (mainly in key areas: Ham Thuan Nam, Ham Thuan Bac, Bac Binh, Ham Tan) as well as replace old dragon fruit gardens with low productivity and quality. At the same time, develop dragon fruit in the direction of large-scale, clean, safe, environmentally friendly, disease-resistant, and climate-change-resistant concentrated commodity production, and call for investment in forming factories to process a variety of dragon fruit products. In addition, it is closely linked with domestic and foreign markets to contribute to job creation, high income and increase export value for Binh Thuan dragon fruit.
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