Farmers shifts to high-value perennial trees

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the total area of perennial trees was estimated at close to 3.37 million hectares in the first six months of 2017, representing a year-on-year rise of 1.9 percent.

Strong growth was seen in the areas under best selling fruits such as orange (23.7 percent), dragon fruit (5.8 percent) and grapefruit.

The outputs of dragon fruits and oranges reached 488,000 tonnes and 304,600 tonnes in January-June, showing a respective year-on-year increase of 16.4 percent and 24.8 percent.

The cultivation of mango and banana also witnessed increases in both area and output. Farmers harvested 448,300 tonnes of mangoes, up 2.2 percent and over 1.1 million tonnes of bananas, up 0.6 percent.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said the cultivation sector is restructuring in the right direction.

The export value of key farm produce topped 9.1 billion USD - the highest level so far, he cited.

Particularly, the export turnover of vegetables and fruits in January-June reached 1.7 billion USD, a yearly rise of 44 percent, he said.

The output of perennial industrial plants such as tea and rubber also rose, estimated at 455,600 tonnes for fresh tea buds, up 0.2 percent, and 334,500 tonnes for rubber latex, up 4.4 percent.

The pepper sector witnessed a strong growth in both area (up 22.6 percent) and output (up 18.2 percent) with 207,700 tonnes of pepper corns.