On the afternoon of March 29, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gia Lai Provincial Cooperative Alliance and Nafoods Group Joint Stock Company signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation on the development of passion fruit and vegetables according to the Decree No. Project to develop vegetable, flower and fruit tree production in Gia Lai province until 2030, with a vision to 2040.

According to Mr. Luu Trung Nghia, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Gia Lai province, as of early 2023, the passion fruit area will be about over 4,000 hectares; The area for products is more than 3,000 hectares; Average yield reached 451.5 tons/ha; Output reached nearly 150,000 tons. It is expected that by 2025, the area of passion fruit in the province will be about 20,000 hectares. Passion fruit trees are grown mainly in districts such as Chu Prong with nearly 822 hectares, Ia Grai with 650 hectares, Dak Doa with 620 hectares, Chu Se with 507.7 hectares, Chu Pah with 500 hectares, Mang Yang with 382 hectares, and K’bang with 239 hectares.

According to assessments of Gia Lai province’s agricultural sector, the average investment cost for 1 hectare of passion fruit is about 160 – 170 million VND. After 8 – 9 months of planting, passion fruit harvests the first batch of fruits, in November – December, harvests the second batch of fruits, in the 14th month, harvests the third batch of fruits and collects and cleans the garden around approx. 16th and 17th months after planting. The average yield of passion fruit is about 40 – 45 tons/ha. The current average selling price is about 12,500 VND/kg. After deducting costs, the profit is about 360 – 370 million VND/ha.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, General Director of Nafoods Gruop, said that currently on the market there are many different seed production facilities, however, Nafoods’ seedlings are produced to ensure stability in productivity and quality, especially especially virus management on seedlings. Nafoods is the only passion fruit seed production unit in Vietnam that masters molecular analysis technology to test viruses on passion fruit trees.

After 9 years of bringing seedlings to the market, from a scale of 200,000 seedlings/year, the business is now supplying 12 million seedlings/year to the market, accounting for 60% of the market share of Vietnamese passion fruit varieties. Currently, Nafoods passion fruit variety is trusted by farmers for its productivity and quality to meet the market from fresh fruit to processing.

Mr. Nguyen The Hung, Chairman of Gia Lai Provincial Cooperative Alliance, hopes to turn Gia Lai into the purple passion fruit capital, developing passion fruit into a key crop. However, for passion fruit trees to develop sustainably and have stable output, it is necessary to focus on organizing connections between businesses – cooperatives and farmers, from seeds, fertilizers, purchasing, processing and export.

A representative of the Plant Protection Institute (Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences) said that passion fruit is not a new crop, but due to pests and diseases, passion fruit trees have not achieved the desired effect. Through research and study, the reason is that passion fruit trees are infected with viral diseases such as crown worm, leaf curl, blister rot, yellow leaves… Proposal to ensure safe production of passion fruit trees, we need to focus on developing and building Build many top-of-the-line orchards that have been inspected to be disease-free. Before planting, people should buy seeds with quality certification. Then, you must closely follow the tree’s life process to detect pests early, if any, and coordinate with the Provincial Plant Protection Department to prevent pests and diseases on passion fruit trees.

After learning about the capacity, potential and actual needs, the parties agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in developing passion fruit in the province according to the Project on developing the production of vegetables, flowers and fruit trees above. Gia Lai province until 2030, orientation to 2040, implementation period from 2023 – 2026.

The memorandum of understanding focuses on consulting on the establishment of “Gia Lai Province Passion Fruit and Vegetable Association”; Promote the proposal to build a testing center and develop geographical indications for Gia Lai passion fruit. At the same time, advise and guide on ensuring food safety and hygiene in the production and processing of passion fruit; Quality management of passion fruit seedlings at local passion fruit production establishments.

Nafoods Group Joint Stock Company supports authorities in inspecting and testing the quality of seedlings, especially testing for viruses on passion fruit seedlings. At the same time, the parties build programs and agricultural extension models on passion fruit that are highly pervasive and reach people in remote areas through local agricultural extension networks with farming consulting programs, mobile pest control or seminars on television, on digital platforms. In addition, the parties also coordinated to organize a ceremony to export the first official shipment of passion fruit to the Chinese market.

The memorandum of understanding also mentions coordinating with localities to introduce cooperatives in Gia Lai province to participate in cooperation and association with Nafoods Joint Stock Company; Consulting and mobilizing cooperatives to develop raw material areas and form chains of production and consumption of passion fruit in the province; Deploying the project “Application of digital technology in management and development of the value chain of passion fruit growing areas incorporating the model of Agricultural Extension – Smart Cooperative”.
The memorandum of understanding also addresses the issue of working with localities, cooperatives and groups

Collaborate to agree to sign a contract to link production and consumption of passion fruit in the province; proactively sign contracts to supply seeds, materials, technical support for farming and digital applications in management and development of growing areas, contracts for agricultural product consumption with cooperatives and cooperative groups, ensuring quality.

At the same time, promote the construction of a high-tech seed center on the basis of rearranging the existing seed center of Nafoods Group Joint Stock Company and other parties, calling for additional investment from outside in technology and science. technical education, financial resources, markets and appropriate policy mechanisms.

(Source: News Newspaper)