Quang Tien pink grapefruit price drops sharply, growers lose crops
(Baonghean.vn) - There was a time when Quang Tien pink grapefruit (Thai Hoa town) cost from 25,000 - 30,000 VND/fruit, however, in recent years, the price of this specialty has decreased sharply, currently only about 10,000 VND/fruit but output is still difficult.
These days, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Loan in Doc Cao block, Quang Tien ward is busy taking care of her grapefruit garden which is in the harvest season. Every day when she goes to her grapefruit garden, Mrs. Loan is anxious to see that the grapefruit is in full ripeness, however, the number of traders buying is less than previous years.
Ms. Loan shared: “We have been taking great care of the growing costs, especially fertilizers and pest control costs; but the consumption market is worse than in previous years. Every year, even unripe grapefruits have customers calling to pre-order in large quantities, but in recent years, the number of people ordering or traders coming to buy directly has decreased…”.
The number of buyers has decreased, but so has the price.Quang Tien pink grapefruitalso unstable. Currently on the market, grade 1 fruit is only priced at 10,000 - 12,000 VND/fruit, however, the quantity of this type is not much left, the quantity of grade 2 fruit only fluctuates from 6,000 - 8,000 VND/fruit. With this price, farmers hardly make any profit due to the large care costs.
Mr. Pham Ngoc Uy - Agricultural Officer of Quang Tien Ward shared: The total grapefruit area of the ward is currently 27 hectares, down from last year (35 hectares) with about 100 households having grapefruit areas in the area. The new grapefruit growing area is insignificant.
"Quang Tien pink grapefruit has been a long-standing brand, but currently, on the market,marketThere are also many other varieties of grapefruit, consumers have many choices so the competition between grapefruit brands is very fierce. In addition, the grapefruit trees in the area are now old and degenerated, leading to a decrease in the number of fruits. In terms of appearance, Quang Tien pink grapefruit is not as beautiful as before, although when cut open to eat, it still retains its flavor. While most consumers look at the appearance to choose the product, Quang Tien pink grapefruit is somewhat at a disadvantage," Mr. Uy emphasized.
Although Quang Tien pink grapefruit is showing signs of slowing down after many years, however, according to the assessment of local authorities, there is currently no fruit tree in the area with higher economic value than grapefruit. Therefore, the orientation of Thai Hoa town as well as Quang Tien ward in the coming years will be to focus on bringing the Quang Tien pink grapefruit brand back to its position in the market.
Mr. Tran Van Hao - Chairman of Quang Tien Ward People's Committee, Thai Hoa Town said: The locality will focus on investing, bringing local pink grapefruit products to follow the correct steps in the VietGAP process, affixing electronic stamps to trace the origin, ensuring technical requirements and procedures to build them into local OCOP products. Once certified with OCOP stars, Quang Tien pink grapefruit products will have a boost in the market, have the opportunity to enter supermarkets, chain systems, and not depend much on traders as at present. That is the long-term direction for the Quang Tien pink grapefruit brand...
In addition to the involvement of local authorities, pomelo growers themselves must also change their traditional business methods. Instead of passively waiting for traders to come and buy as before, it is necessary to increase the application of science and technology and social networks to promote and introduce local products, proactively finding outlets for these agricultural products.
