Tan Lap Dong, an agricultural-services cooperative in Ea Ning, Dak Lak province, is seeking a path where durian (sầu riêng) does not end at 'sell and done.' It manages 40 households and about 50 hectares of export-grade durian orchards under four growing-area codes, layering orchard tourism onto standardized production. For a Japanese importer who wants to confirm the region's story and quality control with their own eyes, it becomes a candidate counterpart that can be verified all the way to the field edge.
Not just selling fruit, but drawing visitors to the orchard
What Tan Lap Dong puts forward is an orchard-tourism-type model that layers scenery, production transparency, the region's story, farm experiences and processed goods onto fresh-fruit shipment. Merely harvesting durian and wholesaling it leaves the price swayed by the market. By drawing people to the field and showing the scenes of cultivation and grading, it seeks to give brand value to the region itself.
The cooperative has worked with companies since 2022 to build a stable supply network. Current sales are mainly fresh fruit, and processed and high-value goods are still limited. Tourism and processing are the next move to broaden that fresh-fruit bias.
With its strong aroma and large fruit, durian is a fruit whose regional scenery itself readily becomes a tourism resource. The experience of walking the field in harvest season and catching a fully ripe fruit as it falls from the tree stays in the memory of both urban consumers and overseas buyers. Merely wholesaling fresh fruit hands that experiential value over to the trading partner. A model that draws people to the field is also a mechanism by which the region keeps the return on the experience for itself.
Managing 40 households and 50 hectares under four growing-area codes
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Location | Ea Ning, Dak Lak province |
| Members | 40 households |
| Export-grade durian area | About 50 hectares |
| Growing-area code (cultivation-zone code) | 4 |
| Pest patrols | Every 15 days |
| Soil and water-quality testing | Sampling and analysis once a year |
| Production records | Paper-based, to be digitized in 2027 |
| Corporate partnership | Since 2022 |
The four growing-area codes form the foundation of traceability at export. For formal exports such as those to China, registration of cultivation-zone codes and packing-facility codes is a prerequisite, and regions with codes differ from those without from the very entrance to a deal. The cooperative imposes a standardized production procedure on everyone in order to maintain the codes and suppress quality variation.
A code is not finished once obtained. If a code is suspended because of pesticide residue or a pest outbreak, exports stop. That is exactly why the 15-day patrols and the once-a-year soil and water tests function not as mere effort but as insurance that protects the sales channel. At a scale of 40 households, management that gets common rules across to everyone is realistic. The fact that digitizing records lies ahead in 2027 is also the flip side of a management volume that paper could no longer keep up with.
Why do standardization and tourism at the same time
Use of permitted fertilizers and pesticides, integrated pest management (IPM), patrols every 15 days, and soil and water testing once a year—Tan Lap Dong lays down such management as common rules for cooperative members. Production records are still on paper, but digitization is planned for 2027. Standardization is to meet export requirements, but it is at the same time the work of creating a 'field you can show.' When management is made visible, you can present the grounds for quality to visitors invited to the orchard and to trading partners.
For Dak Lak durian, moves to align quality through improvements in fertilizing and grading are spreading. the effort of a farmer who raised the share of Grade A shows that standardization is directly linked to price.
What Japanese importers look at in a region
Japanese durian demand centers on frozen flesh and processing material, and fresh-fruit imports are still limited. Even so, there is meaning in securing early a counterpart whose region can be verified. In an orchard-tourism-type region, you can visually inspect cultivation, grading and records on site, making it easier to confirm the reality of management that documents alone do not reveal. The presence of growing-area codes, the frequency of testing and the plan to digitize records become concrete indicators for gauging supply stability.
There is a seasonal window in the supply of Vietnamese durian. the sourcing window that opens when Thailand's between-season gap arrives Given that, a region that combines harvest-season visits with hosting tourism also becomes a place to receive buyers' on-site checks. Even when a Japanese importer handles frozen flesh rather than fresh fruit, there is great meaning in seeing on site how the raw material is grown and the grading standards. It is precisely the fruit routed to processing whose ripeness at harvest and hygiene management determine quality.
Room to expand from a fresh-fruit bias to processing and experiences
The cooperative's attempt to increase processed goods and experiences is to avoid the price risk of standing on fresh fruit alone. When durian harvests concentrate, the market price readily falls, and the unit price splits between Grade A and the rest. Selling out at the field edge and adding margin through experiences and processing soften that volatility. Moves by regions to widen their own sales channels are also occurring in direct sales and streaming. the case of a whole village selling out via KOC streaming shows a way of selling in which a region does not rely on wholesalers alone.
What to confirm before choosing a region
What the Tan Lap Dong case shows is the possibility of a region that presents quality control and the region's story as a single package. The moves the Japanese side can take are concrete. First, confirm the target zones, validity and export track record of the four growing-area codes. Second, request the soil and water test results and pest-management records, and ask about the progress of digitization. Third, align early on whether deals are possible not only for fresh fruit but for frozen and processed forms, and on the system for hosting harvest-season visits. Now, when the region is trying to open and show its fields, the side that has verified the site can assemble high-confidence sourcing.
References: Nong nghiep va Moi truong, 'Not just selling fruit, but bringing visitors to the durian orchard'
