Long An has 120,000 tons of dragon fruit unsold
Long An has 120,000 tons of dragon fruit unsold
The Mekong Delta province of Long An may see an unsold volume of dragon fruit amounting to over 120,000 tons in the first three months of the year due to the Wuhan coronavirus, heard attendees at a meeting between a working team of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the provincial government on February 11.
The province has over 11,820 hectares of land under dragon fruit cultivation, with annual output of over 317,900 tons. Dragon fruit in Long An is entering the harvest season, but the coronavirus outbreak has prevented it from being exported to China where the virus was first detected late last year.
Several border markets between Vietnam and China have announced extensions of enforced closures.
As such, in the three-month period, Long An will likely have over 120,000 tons of dragon fruit in stock, with some 30,000 tons stockpiled in January, over 59,500 tons in February and 31,750 tons in March.
Given the hardship facing farmers, Lavifood JSC, Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), the Co.op Mart supermarket chain and Green Startup Foundation committed to supporting farmers and the Vietnamese agriculture sector at the meeting.
SCB pledged to offer financial support for farmers and agricultural cooperatives and firms so that they can maintain their production and develop warehouses and logistics service systems to ensure sustainable agricultural development.
Dang Ngoc Can, general director of Lavifood, said that the firm has bought dragon fruit at a high price of VND12,000 per kilogram in support of farmers.
“Numerous firms, such as Lavifood, which are enhancing the development of facilities, warehouses and logistics systems to bring sustainable development to the agriculture sector, deserve praise,” said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong.
