800 million dong in profit from nighttime LED and tourism: the design of northern dragon fruit

In Yen Phu in Tuyen Quang province (formerly Ham Yen district), set in the mountains of northern Vietnam, a group of farmers growing red-flesh dragon fruit draws more than 4,000 visitors a year. The organizer is Do Van Hung. A production group of 10 households runs fields of about 7 hectares and about 7,000 plants, harvests five times a year, and earns a profit of more than 800 million dong a year (about 4.8 million yen, converted at 10,000 dong ≈ 60 yen). At the core of the figures is "off-season cultivation," which lights LEDs at night to artificially shift the flowering period. A site in Phu Tho province in the same north that adopted LED flowering A northern dragon-fruit venture aiming for a fourfold unit price with smartphone irrigation and LED flowering was covered there, but Yen Phu layers a tourist orchard and compost recycling on top of it. For Japanese produce buyers and people involved with growing regions, this becomes a concrete case for reading "where in the supply calendar a northern region fills in."

Mountain fields became a "destination"

Yen Phu is a hub for Tuyen Quang province's red-flesh dragon fruit, with dedicated planting exceeding 50 hectares. Hung's production group began cultivation in 2016. At first only 3 households linked their fruit trees to tourism, but now nearly 10 households have switched to the same "show-and-sell" model.

On weekends, visitors from neighboring provinces such as Lang Son, Lao Cai, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, Bac Ninh and Quang Ninh visit the fields and pick and taste fully ripe fruit grown to VietGAP standards on the spot. Producers earn cash while staying in the field, without the trouble of hauling to market. The unit price averages about 15,000 dong per kg (about 90 yen), but as direct sales to visitors and the admission experience build up, it becomes a way of making profit different from relying solely on wholesale.

Lighting LEDs at night to shift the flowering period

Dragon fruit does not naturally flower easily when daylight hours shorten. So a technique is used to shine light at night, creating the illusion that "the day is long," making the plants flower even in the trough period of the harvest. In Yen Phu this method was implemented from a one-hectare scale, using an automatic irrigation and lighting system introduced by Korea's KOICA and dedicated LEDs (power consumption 5–9W) from Rang Dong.

The effect ties directly to electricity cost. It saves about 85% compared with a 60W incandescent bulb and about 55% compared with a 20W compact fluorescent, contains no mercury and curbs carbon dioxide emissions. Lighting cultivation is originally an old technique that spread in southern Binh Thuan in the 1990s, but by combining LEDs with irrigation control, its biggest weakness—the electricity bill—has fallen to a level that pays off even in the northern mid-mountain areas.

The Yen Phu model in figures

Lining up the published figures, the scale is not large, but a design that earns through profit margin and visitor draw comes into view.

For a sense of the market for lighting cultivation itself, the proof in the south is a useful reference. In Binh Thuan, lit fruit fetches 30,000–32,000 dong per kg, above the 26,000–29,000 dong of natural fruiting. In Lam Dong province there were even moments when off-season fruit jumped to three times the seasonal trough. The structure in which shifting the off-season firms up the unit price—taking on year-round shipping with a new variety where flower and fruit coexist—the move of a new longan variety setting out to erase the off-season.

Words from the site and those involved

Picking up the voices around this region shows that not only the cultivation technique but "how the field is used" itself is changing.

• Hung, the organizer — explains that he began cultivation in 2016 and now grows VietGAP-standard red-flesh dragon fruit in a group of 10 households.
• Visitors — tourism demand has taken hold, with people coming on weekends from neighboring provinces such as Lang Son and Hai Phong to pick and taste fully ripe fruit.
• The area — farmers linking fruit trees and tourism numbered 3 households at first, but have now spread to nearly 10, influencing how the whole hamlet earns.

Branches from pruning and off-grade fruit are not thrown away but composted, turning into tens of tonnes of organic fertilizer a year. A cycle that returns matter to the soil while cutting fertilizer bought from outside supports both the VietGAP certification and the ease of explaining to tourists at the same time.

Three points the Japanese sourcing side should read

Yen Phu's scale is small, at 7 hectares. Even so, there are three takeaways for Japanese produce buyers and people involved with growing regions.

First, Northern regions can fill the blanks in the supply calendar— that is the point. The dragon fruit Japan imports centers on Binh Thuan and Long An in the south, coming in year-round from a region on the scale of 48,000 hectares a year. But natural fruiting has a harvest trough, and if that can be artificially filled with LED lighting, the unit price firms up. If the north, whose cropping season differs from the south, can produce off-season fruit, it becomes a new option for a sourcing side that wants to diversify "when and from which region to draw."

Second, Diluting a single crop's price swings with tourism— that is the design. Vietnamese fruit has repeatedly hit rock-bottom regional prices from oversupply. Yen Phu turns its fields into a tourist site and holds income sources that do not depend on wholesale prices, through direct sales and the admission experience. On the same thinking as Japan's farm stands and sixth-industrialization, even if prices collapse, direct sales to visitors provide a floor. When measuring a region's sustainability, a perspective that looks not only at unit price but at "how many earning streams a field has" is needed.

Third, Compost recycling and VietGAP become a yardstick for choosing a region— that is the third. Pruning residue is returned to compost to reduce external inputs, and certification secures the cultivation record. Now that environmental certification and traceability are becoming preconditions for export, a region that satisfies cost structure and environmental conformity at once is more likely to be chosen even at the same price. Diversifying income by combining aquaculture and tourism, the earning style of Cam Ranh's billionaire-farmer club set side by side, you can see the trend of Vietnam's regions moving from "make and sell" to "design and showcase."

Basic information on the region

Summary — looking for a region that can make a "trough"

What Yen Phu's fields showed is the fact that layering three moves—shifting the flowering period with light, increasing sales outlets with tourism, and returning matter to the soil with compost—makes a profit of 800 million dong a year viable even on 7 hectares. From a Japanese sourcing viewpoint, what to confirm from here is first the cropping-season gap of when a northern region can ship, next whether that fruit has the quality to clear quarantine and transport and reach Japanese shelves, and then how many other regions able to run tourism and certification as a set are growing. We are at the stage of beginning to draw a supply map that is not concentrated solely in the south. The next time you choose a region, try asking once—not just about the price list but "which trough of the supply calendar that field can fill."

Sources

• Những khu vườn đẹp cho trái ngon ở Tuyên Quang（Dân Việt）
• Ham Yen (Tuyen Quang): Developing tourism associated with agriculture（Vietnam.vn）
• Giải pháp chiếu sáng cây thanh long（Rạng Đông）
• Chong đèn kích thanh long ra trái bán dịp Tết（VnExpress）