This year's durian season, many gardeners have been successful with their durian season thanks to the stable price of durian, but many other gardeners have failed due to erratic weather, causing the fruit quality to be unsatisfactory, forcing them to accept selling at "dirt cheap" prices.
Go out and meet the durian billionaire
These days, on all roads in the South of Lam Dong province, it is easy to see people harvesting and transporting durian from their gardens to the purchasing warehouses, bustling from morning to night. The aroma of this specialty fruit also lingers, attracting tourists from near and far along the nearly 30km stretch of National Highway 20, from the foot of Bao Loc Pass to the end of Da Huoai Commune.
After more than 20 years of hard work, Da Huoai district (old) has become the leading durian growing area in the country in general and Lam Dong province in particular. This is also where the “Da Huoai durian” brand was formed. Many farmers have become famous for their excellent durian growing skills, with the highest yielding gardens in the country.
The consecutive big durian crops are helping hundreds of farming households in the southern communes of Lam Dong province such as Da Huoai, Da Huoai 2, Da Huoai 3, Da Teh, Da Teh 2, Da Teh 3, Cat Tien to escape poverty, become rich, and in many localities, wherever you go, you can see durian billionaires.
We visited the 3-hectare durian garden of Mr. Doan Cong Loi's family (village 1, Da Huoai 3 commune) right when he was harvesting. In the garden, durian pickers were working at full capacity, traders were bringing in trucks to transport and collect goods busily.
Mr. Loi said: This is the third harvest since the beginning of the season, bringing the total durian output of Mr. Loi's garden to 50 tons, although there is one more harvest from now until the end of the season.
“My family sells everything we harvest. Luckily, both times we cut durian, the price was over 60,000 VND/kg of grade 1 fruit, and when we sell in bulk, it was 50,000 VND/kg. Thanks to that, this year's durian crop, my family earned more than 3 billion VND.”
If the communes named Da Huoai are considered the durian "capital" of Lam Dong province, then after the merger, Da Huoai 2 commune is the "heart" of the durian capital.
Secretary of the Party Committee of Da Huoai 2 Commune, Nguyen Thi Thanh Thao, said: “Currently, the whole commune has 3,419.1 hectares of durian. By 2025, the average production value per hectare of agricultural land is estimated to reach 291 million VND/ha, the average income per capita will reach 103.5 million VND/person/year, the highest among localities in Lam Dong province. In Da Huoai 2 Commune, it is not difficult to meet “barefoot tycoons” with annual revenue of billions of dong.”
Typically, at the Ha Lam Tourism Agricultural Cooperative, after 3 consecutive years of big wins thanks to good harvests and good prices, almost all of the 30 cooperative member households have incomes ranging from several hundred million to several billion VND/year from durian trees. The advantage of the cooperative is that it both develops farming and does experiential tourism .
Mr. Le Quang Son, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of the Cooperative, said: This harvest season, durian that meets export standards has an average price of over 60,000 VND/kg, lower than last year but is still a super valuable agricultural product, bringing in billions of VND per hectare, enough to help many farmers become billionaires.
Much joy, much worry
Farmers in Lam Dong in general and the southern communes in particular are happy that the harvest season is coming, but they are also worried about many things. That is the situation of fruit falling, trees falling during storms and tornadoes, especially the situation of durian being waterlogged.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son, Director of Da M'Ri Agricultural Cooperative, Da Huoai 2 Commune, shared: As the export market is increasingly open, with thousands of hectares of durian being cultivated, this year's crop, farmers in Da Huoai 2 expect to have a great success when durian is both in season and has a good price.
However, when a durian season is about to end, some farmers are happy because the price is good, but many others are sad because the durian is watery and have to accept the "dirt cheap" price.
According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son, he has grown durian for many years but has never seen the weather change as erratically as this year. In mid-April 2025, the weather seemed to be dry, but then it rained in the area. Since then, the rain has continued until now. When the weather is sunny and raining, it absorbs too much water, the durian flesh cannot develop in time, causing it to become hard. Along with that, prolonged heavy rain creates conditions for harmful fungi to develop.
In Da Huoai 2 commune, many gardeners have been paid deposits and purchased by traders at prices above 60,000 VND/kg. However, when the rain continued, the fruit was ready to be harvested, and traders quickly tested the sample and found that the fruit was hard, so the price was reduced by half, or even by more than 2/3. Some farmers, regretting their efforts, had to separate the segments, choosing the beautiful ripe segments to sell retail or freeze. In many families' refrigerators, frozen ripe durian was also packed full, reserved for use at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, with dozens of hectares of durian under cultivation, this durian crop, farmer Nguyen Thai Son (Da Teh 2 commune) has 7 hectares of business and is expected to harvest about 70 tons of fruit.
According to Mr. Son, since the end of May, he has negotiated and signed a contract with a trader to buy the whole garden with a total value of 3 billion VND. The garden has also been handed over to the trader to continue taking care of, by the end of July they will finish harvesting and return the garden. However, this year's weather is too unfavorable, continuous rain makes taking care of durian very difficult, causing fungal diseases... Especially the durian appears to be waterlogged.
“In order for traders to quickly harvest and return the garden for early care for the next crop, I had to reduce 500 million VND for traders. But it was only after the traders transferred the crop to each other twice, accepting losses, and the price was much lower than the previous price, that my durian garden was harvested,” said Mr. Son.
According to Mr. Son, to grow a durian, farmers have to go through many stages, spend a lot of effort and investment costs. However, in the past, durian growers often encountered difficulties when after a long period of heavy rain, the durian would accumulate water, making it difficult for the flesh to color and causing pests and diseases, especially fungi...
In 2024, Vietnam's durian exports will achieve impressive growth, becoming a staple in the fruit and vegetable industry. Output and export turnover are estimated at about 1.5 million tons, with a planting area of nearly 180,000 hectares, 6 times higher than in 2015. Export turnover will reach a record of more than 3.3 billion USD, up 43.2% compared to 2023 and accounting for nearly 50% of the country's total fruit and vegetable export turnover.
Source: https://baolamdong.vn/thu-phu-sau-rieng-lam-dong-ron-rang-mua-thu-hoach-388547.html
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