According to Ms. Nguyen Phuong Ngoc, a guava trader in Cai Lay district, in the last days of February 2024, the price of grade I Thai guava soared to nearly 30,000 VND/kg, grade II Thai guava was about 25,000 VND/kg, and the lowest grade was also above 10,000 VND/kg, almost double compared to the previous month.
Mr. Nguyen Minh, a guava farmer in Ward 5, Cai Lay town, happily shared that he just sold over 100 kg of Thai guava, with an average price of 20,000 VND/kg, earning 2 million VND. According to Mr. Minh, Thai guava is in high demand but due to the dry season peak, the source of guava yield in people’s gardens is limited.
According to the assessment of the functional sectors, at present, local farmers are mainly focusing on processing, irrigation combined with care and recovery of guava orchards to cope with the prolonged drought, protect the trees and prepare for the mid and year-end harvests. Therefore, the limited supply is one of the reasons for the sharp increase in the price of Thai guava after Tet.
Mr. Nguyen Van Man, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tien Giang province, said that Tien Giang currently has nearly 15,000 hectares of Thai guava specialized cultivation, concentrated the most in flood control areas in the west such as Cai Be, Cai Lay, Chau Thanh, Tan Phuoc, and Cai Lay town. The annual harvest yield is estimated at over 300,000 tons of fruits.
Thai guava is suitable for local soil, with high productivity and favorable market outlet, both consumed domestically and preferred in the export market, especially China.
In My Thanh Nam commune, Cai Lay district, farmers have converted hundreds of hectares of cultivation land located in flood-prone areas with difficult production conditions to cultivate Thai guava, bringing high income, helping many households to establish sustainable agricultural industries, becoming rural billionaires.
For example, Mr. Nguyen Van Nha, in Hamlet 7, My Thanh Nam commune, converted 2.2 hectares of rice cultivation land to specialize in growing Thai guava.
Mr. Nha shared that Thai guava planted after 3 years has yielded fruit and can be harvested almost all year round, with high productivity, averaging 25 to 30 tons/ha/year. With 2.2 hectares of Thai guava, after deducting costs, he still earns nearly 1 billion VND in profit each year.
Chairman of the Farmers Union of My Thanh Nam commune, Mr. Nguyen Van Hat, said that to promote the potential and strength of Thai guava trees in flood-prone areas in the west of Tien Giang province, My Thanh Nam has established a Farmers Association specializing in the cultivation of Thai guava, with nearly 20 households participating on an area of about 20 hectares.
Through this, technical transfer of intensive cultivation is carried out, aiming to establish a registered cultivation area code to export officially Thai guava to the Chinese market, helping farmers reduce poverty sustainably.
According to the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tien Giang province, recently, seizing the opportunity of many special fruit types with competitive advantages such as guava, durian, longan… being accepted for official export to the Chinese market, Tien Giang province focuses on transferring intensive cultivation techniques towards GAP, implementing synchronized solutions to improve the quality of agricultural products and goods, associated with encouraging organizations, individuals, and farmers to establish specialized cultivation areas and issue cultivation area codes to serve official export to the Chinese market.
Leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tien Giang province said that the entire province of Tien Giang currently has over 8,500 hectares of guava granted cultivation area codes, 299 area codes for packaging fruits such as durian, guava, mango, longan… for official export to the Chinese market.
The locality expects that with efforts to meet the criteria for officially exporting fruit in general and Thai guava in particular, it will help the fruit industry of Tien Giang develop sustainably, farmers reduce poverty, build sustainable careers, and contribute to building a richer and more beautiful new countryside.
