HCM CITY — HCM City will host its annual Southern Fruit Festival at Suối Tiên Tourist Park in District 9 from June 1-9.

The festival is organised by the city’s Tourism Department and the park to honour the agricultural values of Việt Nam and the southern region.

The event will feature more than 150 kinds of fruit at below-market prices with discounts of 20-40 per cent, and display fruits that satisfy VietGap and Global Gap standards, and a giant and rare fruit collection.

It will also present different kinds of fruit-based drinks and food by bartenders and chefs from the city’s restaurants and hotels.

The annual festival is a popular cultural tourism event to promote Vietnamese fruits. However, it also offers a chance to support farmers in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta affected by the prolonged drought and saline intrusion.

The organisers plan to launch a programme called “Week of Vietnamese Fruits” at hotels, trade centres, supermarkets, traditional markets and grocery shops in the city from June 1-7 to show consumers how to identify safe fruit.

Under the programme, supermarkets like SatraMart, Satrafoods, Co.op Mart and Co.op Xtra will offer discounts of 20-35 per cent on southern fruits like Ninh Thuận red grape, Hòa Lộc mango, watermelon, dragon fruit, longan, guava and durian.

The organisers said they encouraged all sellers to donate a part of their revenue from selling Vietnamese fruits to help farmers affected by drought and saline intrusion.

They will also call for organisers and businesses to raise money that will be used for scholarships and water containers for children in the affected regions.

According to the Southwest Steering Committee, the Mekong Delta region provides 55.5 per cent of rice, 70 per cent of fruits, and 69 per cent of seafood for the country.

Drought and saline intrusion in the region occurred earlier than expected this year and was more severe than in previous years.

It has damaged nearly 200,000ha of rice, 85,000ha of fruits, and 3,000ha of aquaculture products. — VNS