Tien Giang (VNS/VNA) - The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang, thecountry's largest fruit producer, is expanding its dragon fruit growing area aspart of its agricultural restructuring and climate-change adaptation plans.

Tien Giang has nearly 10,000ha of dragon fruit. Of the specialised dragon fruitarea of 7,400ha in Cho Gao district, more than 5,200 ha have yielded an annualoutput of 162,000 tonnes.

Dragon fruit, one of the province’s key specialty fruits, has competitiveadvantages and can adapt to climate change.

Ngo Huu Tue, secretary of the Cho Gao District Party Committee, said to improvequality and competitiveness at home and abroad, the district has encouragedfarmers to grow the fruit under Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP)standards.

Last year, the province granted VietGAP certificates for 1,118ha of dragonfruit in the district, taking the district’s total VietGAP dragon fruit area to2,180ha, up 9.2 percent of the target set for last year.

Duong Thanh Tam, who grows a 0.9ha red-flesh dragon fruit orchard in Cho Gao’s TanThuan Binh commune, said that under VietGAP standards, farmers use mainlybiological pesticides and organic fertilisers.

Instead of using concrete posts to grow dragon fruits under traditional growingmethods, Tam uses trellises, which offer higher yield and quality.

He earns a profit of 600 million VND (26,000 USD) a year from his orchard.

Many rice farmers in the district have switched to growing GAP-standard dragonfruit and have joined agricultural co-operatives to secure outlets for theirproduce.

Le Van Thuy in Cho Gao’s My Tinh An commune said he turned his 1ha unproductiverice field into dragon fruit using Global GAP standards, and joined the My Tinh An Dragon Fruit Co-operative.

Thuy has also used advanced farming techniques like irrigation spraying andelectric lamps at night to stimulate growth in order to produce off-seasonfruits that sell at higher prices.

Thuy and other co-operative members have been trained in farming techniquesunder VietGAP and Global GAP standards. Their cost of registering for VietGAPand Global GAP certificates is also subsidised.

Thuy has a farm contract with outlets which ensures a minimum price of 10,000 VNDa kilogramme. He earns nearly 1 billion VND (43,400 USD) a year from growingthe fruit under Global GAP standards.

“The profit is more than 10 times higher than from high-quality rice,” he said.

The price of off-season dragon fruit is normally three times higher than theprice of main season dragon fruit. Off-season red-flesh dragon yielded anaverage profit of 300 million VND (13,000 USD) per hectare a crop for farmers.The off-season harvest of dragon fruit lasts between November and April.

The district’s dragon fruit was awarded a collective brand name “Thanh long ChoGao” by the National Office of Intellectual Property.

The district’s dragon fruit has been exported to many markets, including the EUand the US.

Cho Gao district plans to expand its specialised dragon fruit growing area tomore than 7,500ha by the end of this year.

It also plans to have an additional 500ha of dragon fruit granted VietGAPcertificates this year, taking the district’s total VietGAP area to 2,684ha bythe end of this year.

The district will provide VietGAP standard farming techniques to about 1,800farmers this year, and strengthen linkages between farmers and buyers.

The district has nearly 9,400ha of various types of fruits, including dragonfruit, and green-skin and pink-flesh grapefruit./.