Durian, the "billion-dollar fruit" is about to be harvested, why don't Lam Dong farmers still close the contract?

However, learning from previous crops, in addition to focusing on taking care of their gardens and waiting for harvest, many farmers constantly monitor the market, carefully waiting for the day to close sales contracts with traders to ensure their own interests.

According to records, in the past 2 months, durian purchase prices by businesses and traders have been above 70,000 VND/kg for Thai durian and above 55,000 VND for Ri6. Notably, at this time, Thai durian is purchased by traders at the garden at above 80,000 VND/kg.

In Da Pal commune, Da Teh district, farmers have been harvesting durians sporadically for a month now and are preparing to enter the peak harvest season. These days, Nguyen Van Luan's family in Ton K'Long village has welcomed many traders coming to discuss signing contracts to purchase Thai durian.

Durian processing for export at Long Thuy Company

Mr. Luan said that currently, his family is cultivating 4 hectares of durian, in the 2024 crop, the expected durian output is estimated to reach more than 50 tons of fruit. This year, despite the unfavorable weather due to prolonged heat, however, thanks to careful care, his durian garden still produces high yields, large, beautiful fruits, and eye-catching colors. With the current price of durian, his family has a revenue of not less than 5 billion VND.

Mr. Luan said that more than a month before the harvest, many traders from inside and outside the province came to his garden to discuss signing contracts and purchasing all of the durian output. They were willing to pay high prices and deposit to buy durian. Especially in gardens with large output, businesses came to the site to sign purchase contracts with quite clear terms.

According to Mr. Luan, compared to previous years, farmers are now very cautious in closing durian price contracts. Because, there have been many cases where after closing the contract, farmers received deposits but when the harvest time came, the durian price dropped, traders "anchored" the fruit in the garden, delaying the harvest time to force farmers to lower the price.

There are unexpected fluctuations in the purchase of durians. For example, one year, traders set the price at the garden at 60,000 VND/kg, but when it was time to cut the durians, the price went up to 80,000 VND/kg, so they cut them all.

On the contrary, there are cases where traders signed contracts for 70,000 VND/kg, but when it was time to cut durian, the market price dropped to only 50,000 VND/kg, so they forfeited their deposits. There are also cases where people cheated, signing contracts to sell to traders at a fixed price, but when the market price went up on the day of cutting, they found ways to sell to other traders.

"Therefore, although traders continuously offer prices, for this year's durian crop, I will only close the contract with traders 7-10 days before harvest time," said Mr. Luan.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Da Teh district, the locality currently has about 1,700 hectares of durian; of which, the area entering a stable business period from the 6th year onwards is 900 hectares, with a total expected output of more than 20,000 tons. Some communes with large durian growing areas are Da Kho, My Duc, Quang Tri, Da Pal...

Compared to other traditional crops in the locality, growing durian helps people increase their income many times over. During this year's durian harvest, the district's Department of Agriculture as well as local authorities have advised farmers to stay calm, closely monitor market information and orchards, wait for the orchards to be old enough, then set a price and sell.

Mr. Vo Huu Long - Director of Long Thuy Company Limited said that currently, people have started to harvest durian. Some people signed contracts with traders from the beginning and monitored the orchard to cut old fruit; some people watched for fallen durian to sell to small traders in the locality. Currently, the price of durian on the market is very high, so with their experience, people need to monitor price fluctuations and carefully study the purchase contracts signed with traders to avoid unfavorable problems arising later.

Besides, due to unstable and fluctuating prices, durian farmers in the province need to be careful when making decisions, carefully consider sales contracts, pay attention to long-term cooperation in production and comply with recommendations from functional sectors and local authorities to have a successful and profitable durian harvest.

According to the Lam Dong Province Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, the province currently has a total durian growing area of ​​21,147 hectares; of which, the harvested area is 11,554 hectares and the expected output in 2024 is 135,000 tons. To date, the province has been granted 116 growing area codes with a total area of ​​5,597.13 hectares; of which, 114 durian growing areas with an area of ​​5,489.13 hectares, with 10 durian export packaging facilities with a total factory area of ​​13,519 m2 and a maximum capacity of 755 tons/day. The growing areas were inspected by the General Administration of Customs of China during the first online inspection in 2023 and corrected according to the request of the Chinese side.

During this year's durian harvest, the Lam Dong Province Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection has also issued recommendations to farmers; at the same time, requested local authorities to actively monitor and promptly intervene in the current situation of "buying and selling competition".

Source: https://danviet.vn/sau-rieng-loai-qua-tien-ty-sap-cat-den-noi-vi-sao-nong-dan-lam-dong-van-cha-chiu-chot-hop-dong-20240710154530629.htm