The "gravity" of durian trees
At a recent seminar on "Developing a sustainable fruit tree production and consumption chain" organized by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City in coordination with the Department of Crop Production and the Department of Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) in Co Do district, a farmer raised the issue: "Farmers in many places in the city are gradually abandoning native fruit trees and switching to growing durian trees, so it is necessary for the agricultural sector to provide guidance."
Regarding this issue, Mr. Tran Thai Nghiem - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City said that not only in Can Tho City, the area of durian cultivation in many localities has increased rapidly in recent times and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has warned.
However, in the 2023-2024 crop year, durian prices will increase, and people will earn higher profits than other crops. Therefore, people cannot be stopped from growing durian, and this is an inevitable rule.
"People have gradually abandoned mulberry, mango, longan, and star apple trees to grow durian. This phenomenon leads to very high risks for durian trees in the coming time," said Mr. Nghiem, adding: "In fruit tree development, we can only advise people to grow durian in a specialized direction, according to the right soil and in association with consuming businesses, to limit risks in the coming period, if any."
Can Tho City farmers harvest durian. Photo: Huynh Xay
Can Tho has 25,000 hectares of fruit growing area, but it has all kinds of specialty trees. That's great, because this is the main city, the center of the region, and every season there is fruit here."
Mr. Le Thanh Tung - Deputy Director of Department of Crop Production
As for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, it will coordinate with relevant units to implement solutions to promote deep processing and preservation, and expand the consumption market for people, in addition to the traditional market of China.
It is estimated that Can Tho City currently has more than 25,072 hectares of fruit trees of all kinds, with a harvest output of more than 223,250 tons/year. Fruit trees grown in Can Tho City are quite diverse in species and have many delicious and special fruits such as durian, mangosteen, rambutan, longan, star apple, mango, jackfruit, strawberry, orange, grapefruit, plum, custard apple...
Recently, many types of fruit trees in Can Tho city have brought high economic efficiency, contributing to improving income and life for many households.
Of which, the durian growing area of Can Tho City is nearly 5,000 hectares and is the fruit tree with the largest increase in area in the city.
Taking us to see the members' dozens of hectares of durian garden that is bearing a lot of fruit, Mr. Tran Van Chien - Director of Truong Khuong A Fruit Garden Cooperative (Truong Long commune, Phong Dien district) said that from before Tet 2024 until now, the price of durian has increased very high.
"If cultivated properly, using balanced fertilizers, especially using a lot of organic fertilizers, helps ensure the quality of durian and the investment cost is only 15,000-20,000 VND/kg. Compared to the current selling prices of other fruits, durian growers are making a big profit, it is difficult for any other tree to keep up," Mr. Chien analyzed.
Because the profit of durian is so attractive, not only people in Can Tho, but also many provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands have destroyed traditional crops to grow durian, or intercropped in pepper, coffee, rambutan gardens...
Seeing households in the area getting rich quickly from durian trees, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Vinh in Ban Long commune (Chau Thanh district, Tien Giang province) and many others were restless.
After that, Mr. Vinh decided to cut down the coconut garden that was bearing fruit to switch to growing "king trees", although he did not know how the price would change when his durian garden bore fruit.
Mr. Vinh compared: "Coconuts are sold for 70,000 - 100,000 VND/dozen (12 fruits), and the price is always unstable, so it is not effective.
Currently, durian trees in neighboring gardens are selling at high and stable prices, while China's demand is too great. Currently, people do not know what to plant or what to choose, so they temporarily plant durian.
Find the difference in fruit growing
Recently, some gardens of coconut, star apple, sapodilla, and grapefruit in Binh Trung, Vinh Kim, Dong Hoa, and Ban Long communes (Chau Thanh district, Tien Giang) have been cut down, the land renovated, and durian trees planted on mounds.
In Cai Be district (Tien Giang), the area of durian trees has increased dramatically to more than 9,000 hectares, including gardens planted on rice fields. Some gardeners have even destroyed Hoa Loc mango trees to switch to durian.
Similarly, in some areas of land with high acidity in Dong Thap Muoi region, Tan Phuoc district, many people also invested in growing durian with the hope of making a big profit "like everyone else".
However, according to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tan Phuoc district, durian trees grown in the Dong Thap Muoi region are quite green and productive, but the fruit quality is not as good as in other localities. The district has no policy to expand this fruit tree.
Mr. Le Thanh Tung - Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) said that currently the country has 120,000 hectares of durian, in the coming time it will increase to 150,000 hectares and maybe more. However, currently other countries also have durian, meaning that Vietnamese durian is and will have many competitors in terms of output and quality.
According to Mr. Tung, people should not follow trends, but should only grow fruit trees that only they have, especially native plants that cannot be found anywhere else.
"It is impossible to grow Ha Chau mulberry in Tien Giang and have it produce fruit as delicious as when grown in Phong Dien district, Can Tho city. Even if it is as delicious, it still lacks the 200-year history of Phong Dien district. This is a distinct value that needs to be preserved," said Mr. Tung.
Mr. Tung said that in Tien Giang, the land is suitable for growing durian at low cost, if the durian price is low, people will also make a profit. However, for other lands that are not suitable for growing, the investment cost is very high, when the durian price drops a lot, it is easy to suffer losses.
Therefore, the Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production suggested that Can Tho City residents who want to change crops, especially from native crops to durian, must carefully consider the development of individuals, cooperatives, collectives and the whole locality.
Source: https://danviet.vn/o-db-song-cuu-long-dan-o-at-trong-loai-cay-dang-hot-gi-ma-khien-nganh-chuc-nang-day-len-noi-lo-20240729164310839.htm
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