Dragon Fruit Outgrows on HarshLand

Known as a sunny, dry and exhausted land, Binh Thuan appears to have no land for   agriculture to prosper. However, there grows a well-known dragon fruit, a sweet and fresh to quench the thirst and the hotness on this harsh land.

 

Dragon fruit, or Pitahaya, is a member of Cactaceae family. Dragon fruit can live in waterless lands and hot climates, typical of Binh Thuan Province. Hence, the cultivation area of dragon fruit has reached 5,147 ha currently from several hundred hectares in the 1990s. Dragon fruit is not only considered a fruit of poverty reduction but a strategic crop and a symbol of Binh Thuan. The watery fruit was chosen as one of 12 fruits in a competition held by Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

 

One of the most important reasons why Binh Thuan’s dragon fruit is highly appreciated is not only that it’s cultivated on the country’s largest area but its premium quality. Light sour, sweet and watery dragon fruit grown by laborious Binh Thuan farmers have reached major Asian nations like China, Singapore, Thailand and Japan. In 2005, the official dragon fruit export value reached US$10 million, exclusive of unofficial exportation to neighbouring countries.

 

In the ninth month of the Lunar Year, the night Ham Thuan Nam, Ham Thuan Bac, Phan Thiet and Bac Binh was illuminated as farmers use lights to warm the trees to encourage them to bear fruit through new and unfamiliar cultivation schedules. The major crop of dragon fruit is from the fourth month to the eighth month of the Lunar Year. Being able to grow dragon fruit all-year-round, Binh Thuan always has dragon fruit for the domestic and international market.

 

To create favourable conditions for the development of dragon fruit cultivation, Binh Thuan Province set up Dragon Fruit Association. Engineer Vu Ve Yen, secretary of the association, said “We currently have 53 members with the Hoang Hau (Queen) Dragon Fruit being the largest with a 70-ha farm. Binh Thuan’s dragon fruit is improving cultivation and maintaining conditions to produce better dragon fruit for new markets as Vietnam enters the WTO. At present, many companies like Hoang Hau, Phuong Giang and Long Hoa use ozone waters to process the fruit. Hoang Hau Dragon Fruit Co. has put a production line into operation to process and preserve dragon fruit. Binh Thuan is shaping a European-standardised dragon fruit cultivation area covering more than 20,000 ha. Many farms are applying methods to purified fruit with the best possible quality. In addition, Binh Thuan is also conducting studies on new species of dragon fruit and cooperates with VNCI and Fruit Research Institute to set up the project “Building EUREPGAP for production and exportation of dragon fruits in Binh Thuan.” The province is developing dragon fruit origin trademarks and introducing Vietnamese standards for dragon fruits in order to lay the ground for farmers and traders to verify the quality of the dragon fruit.