Workshop on Market linkages for Dragon fruit products of Cooperatives in Binh Thuan province

BTO – A workshop on “Market linkages for dragon fruit products of Cooperatives in Binh Thuan province” co-held by the Binh Thuan Center for Agriculture Encouragement and United Nations Development Projects program (UNDP) took place on November 24th at Phan Thiet City.

The event is a part of a series of a project project “Promoting people security – No one left behind through an integrated response to the Covid-19”, connecting and diversifying markets for Dragon fruit cooperatives and its members in Binh Thuan province.

At the workshop, experts and domestic and foreign import and export enterprises have contributed their in-depth analysis on dragon fruit markets, potentials, and challenges in the light of the Covid-9 pandemic. Moreover, they also give orientation on production linkages for dragon fruit consumption in accordance with the world market.

According to the experts’ assumptions, the production and consumption linkages for dragon fruit must define “To buy what the market needs, not to buy what we have”. Enterprises will be a motive force to lead mutual cooperation in production and consumption. In addition, farmers should pay attention to adjust production seasons and harvest output to cope with the orders so as to address the situation of “Both deficient and leftover”. On the other hand, input costs and advanced technological applications should be adjusted to create high-quality products and serve stricter markets.

Addressing the workshop, Phan Van Tan – Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that: Currently, Binh Thuan has over 30,000 hectares of dragon fruit growing area with an output of around 600,000 tons per year. However, a majority of Binh Thuan dragon fruits are now entering the Chinese market through border trade.

Since early 2020, a pandemic has affected the exportation of dragon fruit to China. The Border gates halt its custom clearance to monitor and control the epidemic, resulting in a number of unsold products and a sharp price drop.

Consequently, the local agriculture sector has advised farmers to cleverly produce based on the actual situation, suspended to make out-of-season production. Remarkably, it is necessary to take care of the dragon tree for sustainable production, and follow VietGAP standards on dragon fruit production, etc.

Translated by My Thien (Source; Binh Thuan Newspaper)