High-quality dragon fruit varieties crucial to boosting exports
Vietnam should develop quality varieties and improve cultivation techniques if the country wishes to bolster shipments of dragon fruits, experts said at a seminar held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Embassy of New Zealand in Vietnam on June 5.
Dragon fruit has been cultivated on 54,000 hectares in Binh Thuan, Long An and Tien Giang provinces. (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Vietnam should develop quality varieties and improvecultivation techniques if the country wishes to bolster shipments of dragonfruits, experts said at a seminar held by the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (MARD) and the Embassy of New Zealand in Vietnam on June 5.
According to PhD Tran Thi Oanh Yen, Deputy Head of Southern HorticulturalResearch Institute, Vietnam holds huge potential for dragon fruit production;however, poor varieties and planting techniques have put economic efficiencyfrom the fruit at bay.
Yen also said that improper investment in post-harvest technology has resultedin high losses and low food safety and hygiene.
Thanks to a project funded by the New Zealand Government for 2013-2020, Vietnamhas gradually developed high-quality dragon fruit varieties.
PhD Michael Lay-Yee from the New Zealand Institute for Plant & FoodResearch said that the project aims to develop the economy sustainably viabranching out new varieties, applying advanced production models, and upgradingpost-harvest treatment system.
Several varieties are being piloted and they will be chosen forcommercialisation to improve economic efficiency, he said.
New Zealand experts suggested Vietnam invests in new varieties to sustainablydevelop the fruit sector in the context of fierce competition in the globalmarket.
Tran Kim Long, Deputy Head of MARD’s international cooperation department, saidthat dragon fruits are among the 12 important fruits in Vietnam and havecompetitive edge in the global market.
Dragon fruit has been cultivated on 54,000 hectares in Binh Thuan, Long An andTien Giang provinces. It has made up more than 36 percent of the total fruitshipments, with a total export value of 1.1 billion USD in 2018.
As Vietnam targets to gain 3.6 billion USD from fruit exports by 2020, thecountry has worked out many programmes and measures to rearrange production andbranch out large markets.-VNA
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Dragon fruit has been cultivated on 54,000 hectares in Binh Thuan, Long An and Tien Giang provinces. 
