Tiền Giang Province's Thai jackfruit is currently fetching high prices. - VNA Photo

TIỀN GIANG - The agricultural market in Tiền Giang Province is bustling again after Tết with many key fruits including Thai jackfruit seeing significant price increases.

Nguyễn Phương Ngọc, a trader in Cai Lậy District, said in late February the prices of Thai jackfruit nearly doubled to VNĐ30,000 per kilogramme for type one and VNĐ25,000 for type two from the previous month.

Nguyễn Minh, a farmer in Cai Lậy Town, said he recently sold over 100kg of the jackfruit at an average of VNĐ20,000, earning VNĐ2 million (US$81).

This being the peak dry season, the fruit remaining in orchards is not abundant, he said.

According to authorities, farmers are focusing on irrigation and anti-drought measures to cope with the dry weather and prepare for harvests later in the year.

The limited supply is one of the reasons for the sharp increase in the prices of Thai jackfruit after Tết.

Nguyễn Văn Mẫn, director of the Tiền Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province has nearly 15,000ha under Thai jackfruit, with the highest concentration being in Cái Bè, Cai Lậy, Châu Thành, and Tân Phước districts and Cai Lậy town. 

The average annual harvest is over 300,000 tonnes.

Thai jackfruit is well-suited for growing in local soil conditions, and has high productivity and demand, both domestically and in other countries, especially China.

In Mỹ Thành Nam Commune, Cai Lậy District, farmers have converted hundreds of hectares of flood-prone lands that are difficult to farm into Thai jackfruit orchards that fetch high incomes. 

Nguyễn Văn Nhã of Mỹ Thành Nam Commune converted 2.2ha of rice fields into Thai jackfruit orchards. 

After three years his trees now bear fruit year-round with high yields of 25-30 tonnes per hectare per year.

Tiền Giang has seized the opportunity to export speciality fruits like jackfruit, durian, and dragon fruit to China, focusing on advanced cultivation techniques based on GAP, comprehensive measures to improve the quality of agricultural products, and encouraging the establishment of specialised cultivation areas, Mẫn said.

The province is also allotting farming area codes to serve official exports to the Chinese market.

The Tiền Giang agriculture department said over 8,500ha of jackfruit orchards have the codes along with 299 durian, jackfruit, mango, dragon fruit, and other packaging facilities authorised to export to China.

The locality is making efforts to meet the criteria for official fruit exports, particularly Thai jackfruit, it added. - VNS