A farmer harvests dragon fruit in Thuân Châu District of Sơn La. — VNA/VNS Photo

SƠN LA — The northern mountainous province of Sơn La shipped 10 tonnes of red-flesh dragon fruit - grown in its Thuận Châu District - to Russia late last week.

Thuận Châu is one of the province's localities that have been paying attention to developing high-quality fruit trees. Over the past years, the district has developed 3,600ha of fruit trees of all kinds, of which 50ha are covered with red-flesh dragon fruit. A total of 40ha of dragon fruit are being harvested with total output in 2021 estimated at 440 tonnes.

Thuận Châu district plans to expand the area of red-flesh dragon fruit to 150-200ha during 2021-25.

Nguyễn Xuân Hoàng, Vice Chairman of the district People's Committee, said that in order to synchronously implement solutions to ensure production, processing and sale of agricultural products in adaptation to the market affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the locality has searched for and connected with partners in Việt Nam and abroad.

The district has also created favourable conditions for businesses and cooperatives to meet, learn and sign sale contracts with businesses and distributors.

The export of red-flesh dragon fruit to Russia will contribute to improving value, stabilising sales and helping farmers feel secure in production, thus creating momentum to promote socio-economic development of the district and Sơn La province as well, he added. — VNS