Prices of red-fleshed dragon fruit has drastically risen, said Nguyen Van Than, chair of Dub My Cooperative in Cang Long District, in the Mekong delta province of Tra Vinh on March 24.
Traders have agreed to buy the fruit at VND 47,000 per kilogram at the farms but the cooperative does not have enough supply. In 2013 the cooperative exported 3.7 tons of the fruit to the US.
Farmers in Duc My Commune in Cang Long District started planting the fruit in 2007.
The fruit adapts to the soil, environment and weather in the province extremely well yielding in large quantities of 4-5 tons per acre.
Farmers can profit VND100-120 (US$ 4,744- 5,693) million per year per acre.
The cooperative has 36 members working on 32 hectares of land for growing the red-fleshed species of dragon fruit. Twenty four hectares of land is grown following VietGap Standard (Vietnamese Good Agriculture Practices).
Sources: Saigon GP Daily