Harvesting aloe vera in Ninh Thuan Province’s Phan Rang – Thap Cham City. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Thanh

The hot weather means demand for the plant’s leaves to make beverages is very high.

There is also high demand for it for making cosmetics and herbal remedies.

Traders and companies are now buying aloe vera at VND4,500-6,000 (19-25 US cent) per kilogramme, twice the price they paid last month.   

Le Thanh Nguyen has a 2,000sq.m field in Phan Rang – Thap Cham City’s My Binh Ward and harvests around 10 tonnes of leaves a month.

He sells them for VND4,500 a kilogramme to earn VND45 million (US$1,900), he said.

Tran Duc Anh, who has grown aloe vera in the city’s Van Hai Ward for 15 years, said this is the first time he has seen prices increase so much and rapidly.

The prices now are four times what they were in past years, he said.

“All the harvested aloe vera is snapped up immediately by traders.”  

The hot weather is forecast to continue for long and so demand would increase, according to traders.

The province’s aloe vera is sold not only in Ninh Thuan but also several other provinces and cities, including HCM City.

The plant is easy to grow as it is resistant to drought and disease, and farmers do not need to use pesticides.

Ninh Thuan, the driest province in the country, has hot weather and sandy soil appropriate for growing the plant.

The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has encouraged farmers to link up with local traders and processing companies to ensure guaranteed demand for their produce.

Phan Thi Tuyet Nhung is a trader in Van Hai Ward who has contracts with aloe vera farmers.    

She sells around five tonnes a day to wholesale markets in HCM City and Khanh Hoa and Lam Dong provinces.  

“Other buyers are asking to buy, but I do not have enough to sell,” she said.

She supplies seedlings and fertilisers to farmers and guarantees she will buy their output, and so has a steady supply. Farmers pay her the cost of seedlings and fertilisers after harvesting.

An initial investment of around VND10 million ($420) is required to grow 1,000sq.m of aloe vera. The plant can be harvested after six to eight months. Once they begin to harvest the plants, farmers can get four to six tonnes a month per 1,000sq.m of land for up to three years.

They can earn VND300-600 million ($12,700-25,400) per hectare per year, according to the department.

Ninh Thuan, one of the country’s largest aloe vera producers, discovered the plant in 2002 and now has more than 330ha under it, mostly in Phan Rang – Thap Cham City.

The province plans to increase the area to about 500ha by the end of this year.

It has a number of support policies to help farmers develop aloe vera cultivation sustainably, including acting as a link between farmers and processing companies and establishing co-operative groups that grow the crop to Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP) standards.

It has identified aloe vera as one of 12 important agricultural products.  VNS

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