The price of passion fruit has fallen dramatically in recent times, causing many households in Gia Lai province to panic, not even bother to harvest, leaving the fruit to fall in the garden.
Farmers don't bother to harvest
In recent days, the price of passion fruit in Gia Lai province has continuously decreased, causing many households to stand still. Recorded in localities with large areas of passion fruit plantations such as Chu Pah, Ia Grai, Dak Doa districts..., traders come to buy passion fruit for only about 2,500 - 3,000 VND/kg for ladle (lime extract). epidemic), while lemons sold in the market are purchased for about 5,000 VND/kg. While only a few months ago, the price of lemons was still fluctuating above 10,000 VND/kg.
The price of passion fruit fell, making many households in Gia Lai not bother to harvest. Photo: Tuan Anh.
The price of passion fruit fell, making many households in Gia Lai not bother to harvest. Photo: Tuan Anh.
The price of passion fruit dropped dramatically, causing many households to worry about a losing crop. Even many households are pessimistic about breaking down the passion fruit garden to switch to other crops.
Recorded in Chu Pah district, the prolonged heavy rain in the past few days has made the atmosphere gloomy over the passion fruit growing households. Mr. Tran Van Thanh (village 3, Ia Nhin commune) is working hard to pick up each fallen lemon and put it in a ready-made sack. The price of passion fruit dropped, making Mr. Thanh's face more contemplative.
He said that last year, when seeing the price of passion fruit increase, people in Chu Pah district massively gathered land areas belonging to coffee areas waiting for replanting to grow passion fruit. Seeing that, he also decided to sow passion fruit on an area of 1.5ha of his family. The total amount of investment in the passion fruit garden is more than 200 million VND, the family is expected to harvest after 5 months, the profit will be 3 times higher than the investment amount.
The price of passion fruit fell, many people suffered losses. Photo: Tuan Anh.
The price of passion fruit fell, many people suffered losses. Photo: Tuan Anh.
That's it, but when it comes to harvesting, the price of passion fruit drops to only 8,000 VND/kg, and then continues down to 5,000 VND/kg. At the moment, traders come to buy only 3,000 VND/kg.
“Passion fruit is forced to sell when it is ripe, otherwise the fruit will also fall in the garden. Not to mention the prolonged rain in the past few days, making the quality of the lemons even worse, so the low price must also be sold. At this price, the family's passion fruit harvest this year is considered a loss," said Thanh sadly.
In Dak Doa district, passion fruit is grown by people spread over an area of more than 600 hectares. At this time, along the roads from Ha Bau commune to Nam Yang commune, Dak Krong ... (Dak Doa district), many people's passion fruit gardens are being harvested. However, because the price of passion fruit is too low, many households still try to anchor the fruit, prolonging the harvest time even though the fruit falls with the desire to have a "miracle" to help the price of lemon inched up. Households who are not patient enough have to accept to sell off to calculate the option to convert to other crops.
Struggling to destroy the family's 6-sao passion fruit garden, Mr. Tran Van Hai (village 76, Ha Bau commune) said that the family's passion fruit garden has been planted for more than 1 year, before it was harvested a few times with price over 10,000 VND/kg. But then, the price went down, the latest traders came to buy only 2,500 VND/kg.
Many households have decided to destroy passion fruit gardens to switch to growing crops. Photo: Tuan Anh.
Many households have decided to destroy passion fruit gardens to switch to growing crops. Photo: Tuan Anh.
“The passion fruit garden is also old, the fruit quality is not good, while the price is too low, the family decided to break it down to switch to growing crops. Previously, the family had bought passion fruit seeds to plant for the next crop, but because the price was too low, afraid of losses, they canceled the plan, "said Mr. Hai.
Gia Lai province currently has more than 5,000 hectares of passion fruit with about 20 packing facilities and 19 growing areas that have been granted codes. It is worth mentioning that in the province, there are many large passion fruit processing factories in operation and the area of this tree has not exceeded the recommendation of the agricultural industry, but the price is still "plunging".
It is recommended not to massively expand the area
Mr. Le Van Thanh, Director of Ia Mo Nong Agricultural Tourism Service Trade Cooperative (Chu Pah district) said that when the price of passion fruit increased, people massively expanded the area, leading to supply. exceed the demand.
"Currently, the area of passion fruit is only a few thousand hectares but the price has dropped so low, try to ask if the area is increased to 25,000 hectares as in the province's scheme, where will the fate of lemon farmers go," said Mr. advise people not to massively expand the area of passion fruit cultivation
People harvest passion fruit but less happy. Photo: Tuan Anh.
People harvest passion fruit but less happy. Photo: Tuan Anh.
Similarly, Mr. Nguyen The Minh, Director of Nghia Hoa Agricultural Service Cooperative (Chu Pah district) said that the cooperative is still supporting the purchase of passion fruit for people at the best price. However, recently, the price of passion fruit has dropped so that many people are not interested in taking care of their gardens, leading to poor quality.