Green-skinned grapefruit has a good price, gardeners have a big Tet holiday

In the days leading up to the 2014 Lunar New Year, the price of green-skinned pomelos has been continuously increasing, making many gardeners in Tien Giang extremely excited. Currently, green-skinned pomelos are being purchased directly from the garden by traders at a price of 35,000 - 37,000 VND/kg, an increase of about 10,000 VND/kg compared to last month and more than 7,000 VND/kg compared to the same time last year.

Mr. Le Van Thanh, a green-skinned grapefruit farmer in Long Khanh commune, Cai Lay district, said that in recent days, traders have been coming to the garden to buy green-skinned grapefruit to supply the Tet fruit market. “This year, the grapefruit garden is over 3,000m²I have harvested more than 4 tons of fruit, with the selling price ranging from 32,000-35,000 VND/kg. After deducting expenses, I still have a profit of over 100 million VND. Thanks to the grapefruit garden, this spring, my family enjoyed a warm and prosperous Tet holiday," Mr. Thanh shared.

Green-skinned grapefruit is a fruit tree with high economic value but requires gardeners to have good intensive cultivation techniques, especially in conditions where green-skinned grapefruit is severely affected by fruit borers. Due to the impact of pests and diseases, the output of green-skinned grapefruit has decreased, the limited supply has caused the price of green-skinned grapefruit to always be high in recent years, and gardeners who grow grapefruit with good intensive cultivation techniques can have high profits.

According to calculations by grapefruit farmers, green-skin grapefruit grown in Cai Lay has an average yield of about 15 tons/ha. At current prices, any gardener with grapefruit harvest will have a revenue of over 500 million VND; after deducting production costs, farmers still have a profit of over 250 million VND/ha.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lai, a fruit trader at Vinh Kim wholesale market, Chau Thanh district (Tien Giang) said that since the beginning of December, she sent people to the green-skin pomelo gardens in Cai Be and Cai Lay districts to deposit money to prepare pomelos for the Tet market, but many gardeners were afraid of being "cheated" so they refused to accept the deposit and said that they would calculate the price when they sold.

“The demand for grapefruit during Tet is very high, so every year, the price of grapefruit near Tet is sky high. In the coming days, the price of grapefruit may continue to increase sharply to over 40,000 VND/kg,” Ms. Lai said.

According to statistics, Tien Giang currently has over 5,000 hectares of grapefruit, annually supplying the market with over 70,000 tons of fruit. By 2015, the province is striving to have a total area of ​​6,880 hectares of specialty grapefruit, including green-skin grapefruit and Co Co hairy grapefruit, mainly concentrated in flooded areas of Cai Be and Cai Lay districts.

According to rural economy