TP – The Chinese license for durian to be officially exported to this country, opens a great opportunity for a fruit to become a billion-dollar export item. However, people in some localities rushed to cut down coffee, pepper… to switch to durian, causing instability in supply and demand, crop structure.
The price of durian is so high that people in many localities are rushing to grow this tree
Rush to plant durian
Mr. Bui Van Hanh, Dak Ha commune (Dak Glong, Dak Nong) said that his family has about 10 sao of coffee mixed with pepper. In the past few years, pepper has poor productivity, many diseases and deaths, not to mention the deep drop in prices, so his family has just invested billions of dollars to plant more than 300 Ri6 durian trees to replace coffee and pepper.
According to Mr. Hanh, compared to growing coffee and pepper, durian is more difficult to care for, but the income from this plant is many times higher; Many households in the commune also make a living from growing durian, so the family boldly invests capital. “We know it’s hard to change crops. However, for each tree in each period, if it does not change in accordance with the times, what do people harvest? The Central Highlands is getting a lot of durian, maybe later here will form a durian specialty area here,” said Mr. Hanh.
Mr. Bui Tin, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of Krong Pac Organic Agriculture Cooperative (Dak Lak), said that with 1ha of coffee and pepper, every year after deducting expenses, people’s income is only About more than 100 million dong, but with that area, if durian is grown, people can earn 500-700 million dong/ha. Therefore, in the coming time, the cooperative will cut down the old, low-yielding coffee trees to focus on “raising” durian.
The trend of growing durians in the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta provinces is flourishing recently. Even, many people even demolished the coffee and pepper garden … which have been planted for decades to switch to durian, causing this crop area to increase very strongly.
According to the General Statistics Office, from 2010 to now, the area of durian across the country has increased more than 5 times. Specifically, in 2010 there was only 17,600 ha, but by 2022 this number has increased to 90,000 ha with an annual output of about 1.3 million tons of fruit. In particular, only in the last 2 years, the area of durian has increased by more than 20,000 ha.
Sharing with PV Tien Phong, Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that with the selling price maintained at 80,000-90,000 VND/kg and even when the prices of other agricultural products fell dramatically. , durian still achieves high prices, so this crop is very attractive to people.
Especially, after Vietnamese durian was licensed for official export to China, the price of durian increased even higher, leading to people tending to cut down coffee, pepper, cashew … to switch to the “king of fruits” tree”. However, according to Mr. Nguyen, there is information to note that China currently only accepts durians grown in specialized farming areas, which are granted a planting area code by this country. While the area of durian intercropping with coffee and other crops in the Central Highlands reported by the Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development is not small, reaching about 28,500 hectares, mainly in Dak Lak; Dak Nong; Lam Dong, Kon Tum…
Notably, currently, durian with a new planting area code is only about 7% of the country’s durian area, so if the area is increased rapidly in a short time, the risk of fraud in the planting area code, affect the whole industry.
Lessons learned from pepper
Talking to PV Tien Phong, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Cuong, Director of the Department of Crop Production (MARD) said that recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development established a survey team to check and assess the situation of fruit growing areas in Vietnam. Central Highlands, Southeast and Mekong River Delta. The ministry also noticed that people are switching from some other crops to growing durian because the profits from the “king of fruits” are very attractive.
“This can bring better income for households in the short term, but in the long run, it is easy to cause instability when the area of durian increases gallop,” said Mr. Cuong, citing the lesson from the pre-crop longan. massively planted pepper.
In 2017, when the price of pepper was “fever” to 200,000 VND/kg, families rushed to grow pepper, resulting in a short time, the area of pepper trees increased 3 times. But at the same time, the price of pepper dropped dramatically to only 15,000-20,000 VND/kg, causing heavy losses to households investing in “black gold” trees.
“We recommend that people do not rush to switch to durian, but should combine intercropping between coffee and durian because the practice has proven the economic efficiency of the intercropping model is very good and sustainable. . In particular, localities need to take a drastic action, widely communicating to the people to avoid rushing to grow durian,” said Mr. Chief Le Minh Hoan will have instructions on this.
Mr. Hoang Trung, Director of Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), said that Vietnam has signed a Protocol with China on official export of durian, including requirements on specialized cultivation areas, so we need must obey. For the area of durian intercropping, which does not meet the requirements from China, the plant protection departments have been directed not to select these planting areas, because China checks very closely, just see online is possible to miss.
“We have about 90,000 hectares of durian, but not all of it is exported to China. Durian in intercropping gardens can be consumed domestically and exported to other markets. To avoid the same fall as previous crops, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development warned localities not to increase durian acreage in the near future. Mr. Hoang Trung, Director of Plant Protection Department.
Follow Duong Hung – Thuy Anh (Tien Phong)
