| Dragon fruit exports to the UK market still follow current regulations. What is the reason why Vietnamese dragon fruit is 'going backwards'? |
Binh Thuan has an area of 27,000 hectares of dragon fruit, with an output of more than 600,000 tons/year, ranking first in the country. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Thuan province informed that local dragon fruit has been exported to more than 20 markets around the world, with Asia as the main market with nearly 75% of output and nearly 60% of value.
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| The Chinese market consumes about 80% of Vietnam's dragon fruit exports. (Photo: Thanh Binh/VNA) |
In particular, Binh Thuan dragon fruit has been granted a geographical indication by the Department of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology). The brand "Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit" is protected by the European Union (EU). The image and brand "Binh Thuan Dragon fruit" have been registered and have been agreed to be protected by 13 countries and territories.
Dragon fruit is identified as one of 14 key fruits in the “Project for Developing Key Fruit Trees to 2025 and 2030”. For many years, this product has always been in the Top in terms of agricultural export value.
However, according to Mr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan - Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the dragon fruit industry value chain has been facing many challenges as China, India, and Mexico have successfully grown this fruit. In 2021, China announced an output of 1.6 million tons of dragon fruit/year, higher than Vietnam.
In order to develop the Vietnamese dragon fruit value chain sustainably, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development aims to develop the dragon fruit industry based on the potential and advantages of ecological regions, especially in the three key dragon fruit growing provinces of Binh Thuan, Long An and Tien Giang. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the quality, added value and competitiveness of products; protect the ecological environment and adapt to climate change.
The dragon fruit industry therefore needs to reorganize production towards cooperation and linkage in the value chain and overcome the lack of connection between entities in the chain, being passive in accessing export markets, being vulnerable to market risks, and producing and arranging a synchronous and effective logistics system.
During the 2021 - 2023 period, Binh Thuan is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the United Nations Development Program in Vietnam (UNDP) to participate in the Project "Promoting private sector participation in low-carbon investment and climate change response in the agricultural sector in implementing Vietnam's NDC".
The project focuses on four main activities: Promoting development and improving the quality of dragon fruit chain linkages towards low carbon emissions, sustainability and resilience to climate risks; promoting and developing brands for dragon fruit products in Binh Thuan province; cooperating in promoting digital transformation in dragon fruit management and production; calling for green finance and financial incentive mechanisms to invest in environmentally friendly, low carbon emission production and processing technologies.
In particular, the Project has deployed an electronic traceability system in dragon fruit cooperatives and enterprises. From the initial 50 hectares, the province has expanded to 269 hectares with carbon emission monitoring. As of the end of December 2023, about 23,000 tons of dragon fruit have been monitored for emissions.
Mr. Doan Anh Dung - Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People's Committee - said that Binh Thuan wants to produce dragon fruit in a sustainable and responsible manner, thereby helping cooperatives and businesses in the area have enough conditions to sign sustainable consumption linkage contracts.
To ensure transparency from dragon fruit production to processing, Mr. Phan Van Tan - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Thuan province - said that the locality has developed a production diary subsystem to track the carbon footprint of the product. Specifically, consumers can scan the QR code to prove the quality and environmental responsibility of the final product. This is a creative and breakthrough point in the process of implementing Binh Thuan's commitments on green growth and emission reduction.
Although the dragon fruit production and area are the highest in the country, Binh Thuan province admits that the production scale of households in the area is still relatively small, and the volume of products meeting the standards of demanding markets is not much. In addition, the post-harvest preservation and the connection between people and businesses are not really sustainable.
Based on the results of the project jointly implemented with UNDP, Mr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan suggested that large dragon fruit growing localities continue to mobilize comprehensive resources from the private sector (farmers, cooperatives, enterprises), the state and international support, in which the state budget focuses on supporting infrastructure, science and technology, agricultural extension and implementing policies.
"We need to transform the dragon fruit value chain towards improving efficiency, added value, low carbon and sustainability. To do so, it is necessary to integrate and utilize all resources, promote internal strength and create motivation for the participation of leading enterprises in the process of leading and transforming the dragon fruit industry," Mr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan shared.
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