ĐẮK NÔNG – The “Ripe Avocado Season” festival officially kicked off Thursday night in Gia Nghĩa Town in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Nông.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Tôn Thị Ngọc Hạnh, deputy chairwoman of the province’s People’s Committee, said the plan to develop avocado as the province’s key agricultural product had received support from central, local and international officials and academia as well as domestic and foreign businesses.

She said the festival would be a great start for the sustainable development of avocado cultivation.

Apart from promoting agricultural production, the province is also encouraging the development of community-based tourism related to the growing of avocados, she added.

Thanks to the geographical features suitable for growing avocado, the province is trying to build a brand for the fruit and receive geographical indication (GI) certification.

This is Việt Nam’s first international festival dedicated to avocado. It is an opportunity for local avocado growers and suppliers to look for long-term contracts in domestic and foreign markets.

The event will run until July 23 with many activities, including opening and closing ceremonies, a workshop on sustainable avocado development, a trade fair on supply and demand of the fruit and other agricultural products, and an avocado competition, as well as tours to farms.

The avocado trade fair which started a day before the grand opening ceremony attracted more than 240 businesses that set up 264 trade booths.

Besides showcasing a wide range of avocados of different varieties, the fair also features specialties and other key agricultural products of the province.

The organiser has also given free QR stamps to avocado firms taking part in the event.

Visitors can scan the stamps with their smartphones to read information about the origin of avocados that they buy.

The province has 2,600ha under avocado, which is modest compared to Đắk Nông’s key agricultural products such as pepper, coffee and cashew.

However, the fruit is economically attractive as 1ha of avocado can bring farmers an income of VNĐ500-700 million (US$22,000-30,000) per year.

If income from avocado farming remains stable, it is expected to account for around 10 per cent of the province’s total income from agriculture, according to authorities.—VNS