Economic value of more than 280 billion VND/year

Son Tay town has a semi-mountainous terrain, very suitable for growing some perennial fruit trees, especially jackfruit. Currently, in this town, there are more than 100 hectares of jackfruit, distributed in 9/15 communes and wards, mainly concentrated in hilly communes such as: Son Dong, Co Dong, Kim Son, Xuan Son, Thanh My...

Head of the Economic Department of Son Tay town Dao Xuan Hong Hai said that jackfruit trees are currently generating quite high economic income, with an average of 2 - 5 million VND/tree/year; in particular, old trees with good quality can generate 10 - 15 million VND/year. In addition to fruit, jackfruit trees also provide additional income from wood for trees that are several decades old or older.

Along with Son Tay town, jackfruit trees are also being grown quite popularly in some other districts such as: Phuc Tho, Ba Vi, Chuong My, Thach That, Quoc Oai, My Duc, Thanh Oai... Jackfruit varieties grown in Hanoi are currently quite diverse and rich in species.

According to statistics from the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the total area of ​​jackfruit in the city is currently about 1,135 hectares. The average yield for jackfruit growing areas is nearly 148 quintals/ha; the average total output per year is about 14,100 tons. The economic value from jackfruit trees is more than 280 billion VND.

Besides traditional jackfruit varieties (tough jackfruit, sweet jackfruit, honey jackfruit), there are also some imported varieties with the characteristics of early fruiting and abundant fruiting such as: green-skinned Thai jackfruit, super early turmeric jackfruit, red-fleshed Malaysian/Indonesian jackfruit... However, the quality of crunchiness, sweetness, and aroma of traditional specialty jackfruit varieties is still superior, stable, and is chosen more by consumers.

Find stable output for jackfruit trees

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan, a long-time jackfruit grower in Son Dong commune (Son Tay town), jackfruit consumption currently still depends mainly on traders. During the main season, jackfruit ripens a lot, traders buy at low prices, many times farmers are oppressed, having to sell at prices of only 7,000 - 1,000 VND/kg.

The consumption of jackfruit products with unstable prices is currently a difficult problem not only in Son Tay town but also in the whole of Hanoi. This is due to the fact that the connection and linkage of jackfruit product consumption between traders and farmers is currently not tight and unsustainable.

Current consumption is mainly in the form of fresh jackfruit; it has not yet created diverse jackfruit products that have been pre-processed or deeply processed. In addition, the scale of jackfruit cultivation in Hanoi is generally still small and scattered, causing difficulties in infrastructure investment, production linkage organization and value chain building...

According to Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Manh Phuong, the city is very interested in developing the fruit tree sector in general, including jackfruit. Recently, the Department of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology) has granted a collective trademark to “Son Tay Jackfruit”, creating immediate conditions for promoting, introducing and consuming jackfruit products.

To sustainably promote the jackfruit industry in Hanoi, in the coming time, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will coordinate with localities to review existing jackfruit growing areas, as a basis for orienting the development of concentrated production areas associated with processing. From there, research and advise the City People's Committee on support policies.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Phuong also emphasized the importance of selecting and managing the exploitation of mother trees, to ensure that gardeners can access the best quality jackfruit seedlings. In addition, commercial jackfruit production also requires increased application of science and technology to reduce post-harvest losses and diversify processed jackfruit products.