Experts at a conference held in the province of Tien Giang concluded more farmland should be devoted to the cultivation of fruits, especially key export fruits. The Director of the Department of Crop Production said that the focus should be on quality to ensure safety and hygiene of fruit exports. On top of that, reducing post-harvest losses and increasing capacity in storage are also badly needed.
Vietnamese fruit cultivation areas have increased in recent years, with a total of over 857,000 ha. This increase is partly due to farmers shifting from cultivating rice to fruits. Over the period 2016-17, local farmers switched to fruit trees from rice on a total of nearly 3,000 ha. The use of advanced technologies in recent years has led to a surge in fruit yields.
Tien Giang province now has nearly 73,000 ha of fruit trees, with an average of 1.3 million tonnes produced each year. According to vietnamplus, speakers at the conference noted that fruit exports had yet to reach their potential.
In recent years, the country's vegetable and fruit export revenue has increased, with 2.4 billion USD recorded last year, a rise of 33.6 percent year-on-year. This year, it is expected to be between 3.46 and 3.63 billion USD. This would put Vietnam in third place out of five key fruit exporters in the ASEAN region. Vietnamese fruits are exported to 60 nations and territories, the main fruit exports being dragon fruit, pineapple, mango, jackfruit and papaya.