Promoting investment in dragon fruit processing technology

Dragon fruit prices drop sharply

During the peak months of the dry season, the demand for dragon fruit exports increases while the output of dragon fruit was lower than the same period every year due to the impact of drought and salinity. Accordingly, the price of red-fleshed dragon fruit sold in the garden was always high, from 30,000-35,000 VND/kg.

Workers of HG Food Joint Stock Company (Thu Thua district) arrange dragon fruit on drying trays

When the main season begins, dragon fruit prices continuously drop. Currently, grade 1 exported dragon fruit is only sold for 6,000-8,000 VND/kg, the rest is priced below 5,000 VND/kg, lower than the production cost.

According to the Director of Duong Xuan Dragon Fruit Cooperative (Duong Xuan Hoi commune, Chau Thanh district) - Phan Thanh Son, China is also harvesting dragon fruit in abundance, so the export of dragon fruit to China at this time is limited. In the domestic market, the months when dragon fruit is in peak harvest season are also the season of diverse summer fruits, affecting consumption.

Currently, the total area of ​​dragon fruit cultivation in Long An province is more than 7,800 hectares, of which about 96% is red-fleshed dragon fruit, concentrated in Chau Thanh, Tan Tru districts and Tan An city. The annual output is more than 201,000 tons.

Mr. Vo Van Binh (Binh Quoi commune, Chau Thanh district) shared: “In the rainy season, dragon fruit has many diseases such as root rot, branch rot, white spots, etc, causing high costs for care, disease prevention and treatment. In addition, in the rainy season, the fruit peel is also thinner, so the percentage of fruit that meets export standards is very low”.

Processing needs to be promoted

Red-fleshed dragon fruit used to be a specialty fruit in the top in terms of income. During the “golden age” of this crop, during the shortage season, dragon fruit prices skyrocketed, sometimes reaching nearly 70,000 VND/kg, so farmers earned a profit of about 1 billion VND/ha/year. In recent years, the price of dragon fruit has gradually “cooled down”, and at many times during the main season, the price of dragon fruit has dropped sharply, to only a few hundred VND/kg.

For the province's main fruit to develop sustainably, investment in processing and preservation is a solution that needs to be focused on and promoted. However, attracting investment in processing and preservation factories right in the growing area is still a difficult problem.

According to many dragon fruit production cooperatives, investing in dragon fruit processing facilities requires a large amount of capital, which is beyond the capacity of cooperatives and farmers. In addition, the number of cold storage facilities for preserving dragon fruit of cooperatives is not much, most dragon fruit must be consumed immediately after harvest, so the selling price is easily influenced by the market.

The situation of high harvest, low price has been happening for many years. Therefore, dragon fruit growers really need the support of functional sectors in attracting investment in processing and preservation to help this crop bring higher economic efficiency and more sustainability in the coming time./.

By Minh Tue - Translated by Q. Thien

Source: https://baolongan.vn/dau-tu-cong-nghe-che-bien-thanh-long-can-duoc-day-manh-a181151.html