Since after the 2026 Lunar New Year, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, and many jackfruit-growing capitals in the Southwest region have been experiencing an unprecedented, prolonged price "crisis." Jackfruit—once a crop that helped many households change their lives—has now become a burden, pushing thousands of farmers into heavy financial losses.

Observations in the key growing regions of Dong Thap show that the price of grade A Thai jackfruit currently fluctuates between only 6,000 and 9,000 VND/kg.

More alarmingly, sorted jackfruit (kem) or local market-grade products have hit a record bottom at around 2,000 VND/kg.

Mr. Nguyen Van Noi, a farmer in Dong Thap, shared sadly: "Never before have I seen jackfruit prices drop so low and remain prolonged like this.

Production costs, fertilizers, and pesticides have soared, while the highest selling price does not exceed ten thousand VND per kilogram for top-quality jackfruit. Selling definitely guarantees a loss; many surrounding farmers could not bear it and have grit their teeth to cut off young fruits, or even chop down their jackfruit orchards to switch to other types of trees."

Border gates "congested"

Why have Western jackfruit prices plummeted without braking and fallen into such a prolonged sluggish market situation?

According to reports from procurement warehouses and enterprises, the core cause stems from an over-reliance on a single export market, China, alongside unresolved internal bottlenecks. According to Mr. Nguyen Tan, a jackfruit trader in the Western region, this is due to congestion in the testing stage at border gates.

“Recently, the primary reason causing jackfruit prices to drop deeply is that the testing process was jammed, preventing goods from clearing customs in time. The backlog at the border causes fresh fruit to spoil easily,” Mr. Tan stated.

Also according to Mr. Tan, a friend of his who grows over 100 hectares of jackfruit is now forced to find ways to sell jackfruit through Cambodia because the outlet to the Chinese market is blocked.

“Turning back to sell to Cambodia, because going through China now means waiting at the border gate for too long, spoiling all the goods. Turning back constantly means ruin. Renting vehicles, hiring labor, and so on... who can bear that,” Mr. Tan shared.

Additionally, there is an overly rapid expansion of cultivation areas: Currently, the jackfruit cultivation area (primarily super-early Thai jackfruit and red-flesh jackfruit) in the Western region has exceeded 30,000 hectares, concentrated in Tien Giang (15,800 hectares), Dong Thap, Hau Giang...

The massive, spontaneous conversion from rice land to jackfruit cultivation, lacking sustainable value chain linkages, has clearly exposed vulnerabilities when the market catches a cold.

From "carving meat" to recover capital to a sustainable "staggered fruiting" strategy

Amidst the clogged outlets, according to Mr. Tan, Western local authorities, enterprises, and farmers are making efforts to execute solutions ranging from immediate situations to long-term foundations to save themselves.

Accordingly, the temporary solution is “carving the meat” and separating the segments to get by and recoup capital. Many jackfruit-growing households have flexibly found ways to manage by manually harvesting ripe jackfruits, carving the fruits, and separating the segments to sell to domestic dried jackfruit processing facilities. Although it requires a lot of labor and the selling price is not high, this is the only way helping citizens salvage fertilizer and pesticide costs, avoiding letting ripe jackfruits rot all over the orchards.

The fundamental solution is changing the cultivation mindset, implementing "staggered fruiting" instead of "price-chasing" to avoid the risky situation of a “bumper crop, falling prices” or “missing the targeted price.”

The local agricultural sector is guiding people to radically change production methods: shifting toward "staggered fruiting" (producing scattered crops year-round). Instead of forcing trees to bear fruit simultaneously according to a fixed season to wait for a good timing, farmers are advised on technical processes to handle trees to bear fruit scatteredly and continuously throughout the year.

Implementing staggered fruiting helps ensure the jackfruit volume entering the market remains moderate and stable, avoiding the pressure of sudden market flooding.

This method helps protect the lifespan of the trees while ensuring farmers always secure a stable income, minimizing risks when border gates open and close unpredictably. Furthermore, it closely controls safety processes.

The People's Committee of Dong Thap Province (a locality with a large jackfruit area) has requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to support strengthening sample testing to serve export activities.

Simultaneously, the agricultural sector advises farmers to strictly comply with safe cultivation processes and control heavy metal (cadmium) residues at the root to elevate quality standards, clearing the path for formal jackfruit exports. Finally, it standardizes growing area codes. The entire region is accelerating the standardization of raw material areas.

For instance, Dong Thap has established 180 growing area codes covering an area of 6,000 hectares. Expanding these standard-compliant area codes is the mandatory key to bringing jackfruit out of precarious "informal" boundaries.

Source: Bao dien tu Dan Viet