With a bumper crop of 4.63 billion USD, many farmers became billionaires on the hilly gardens

With a bumper crop of 4.63 billion USD, many farmers became billionaires on the hilly gardens

September 2, 2024 Catherine Williams - Chief Editor Business

Farmers rush to collect billions

Standing in a hilly garden of durian trees, every tree laden with fruit during the harvest season, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thao (Son Trung commune, Khanh Son, Khanh Hoa) happily boasted that this year the durian crop was bountiful and the price was good.

Mr. Thao’s family’s durian area is still 14 hectares. However, the price of this fruit is no longer at 20,000-35,000 VND/kg as it was before 2022.

“Last year, the durian yield was 150 tons, and it sold for a high price. This season, the price is up to 82,000 VND/kg,” he said. Mr. Thao’s Dona durian garden this year yielded over 200 tons of fruit, with an estimated revenue of about 16 billion VND. After deducting expenses, he “pocketed” about 13.5 billion VND.

This is also the year Thao’s family has won the most after more than a decade of growing durian in Khanh Son area.

Many farmers have become billionaires thanks to durian. Photo: Manh Khuong

Similarly, Mr. Mai Van Khang (in Son Lam commune, Khanh Son) said that his family has 10 hectares of durian. In recent days, the whole family has been working hard to harvest the fruit. Last year, his family harvested about 60 tons of durian. This year, the expected yield of the durian garden is about 100 tons of fruit.

In particular, the selling price of durian this year is higher than previous years, so Mr. Khang calculated that he could earn a profit of 8 billion VND.

More than a thousand kilometers away, on a hill area of ​​more than 10 hectares that only grows longan, Mr. Bui Van Quang (in Chieng Khuong commune, Song Ma, Son La) also shared that the prolonged hot weather has affected the yield of longan trees this year. His garden’s longan yield is only about 60-70 tons, a sharp decrease compared to last year’s crop.

However, in return, the selling price of longan is almost double that of last year, averaging VND40,000-45,000/kg. Thanks to that, the revenue from this specialty fruit is estimated at VND2.4-2.8 billion, he said.

In Bac Giang, the season of ripe red litchis ended not long ago. This year, the province’s litchi output only reached 86,000 tons, only 42.5% compared to the same period last year. However, the consumption market was favorable, farmers sold litchis at prices ranging from 55,000-110,000 VND/kg, 3-4 times higher than the previous crop, so the harvest was still bumper.

After the harvest, Bac Giang farmers earned 4,814 billion VND from selling specialty lychees, an increase of 156 billion VND compared to 2023 – an unprecedented high revenue in history.

“The main export markets all recorded very good growth. The company is busy paying off one order after another,” Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung – General Director of Vina T&T Group shared with VietNamNet. Of which, by the end of July this year, the company’s largest export market, the US, recorded a growth rate of 26% over the same period last year.

In the Chinese market, the company only exports fresh durian. At peak times, it sends 1-2 containers of durian to this billion-people market every day. Currently, the company exports about 10-15 containers of durian per month, 18 tons/container, said the leader of the above business.