Vietnam’s Dong Thap to treat visitors to fruit fest

The opening ceremony for the fest, scheduled for Friday night, is expected to highlight the unique identity of Dong Thap’s orchard culture and excite both residents and visitors with a colorful blend of cultural performances and agricultural displays.

The festival will feature nine main events and 12 accompanying activities, including competitions, seminars, exhibitions, and culinary showcases of dishes made from renowned fruits.

Among the highlights will be a water music, light and artistic mapping show titled ‘Listening to the River’s Story,’ an exhibition of the fruit industry’s value chain, a ‘Charming Orchard Beauty’ contest, a seminar on farming, and a conference focused on developing value chains for the province’s key fruit products.

A trade fair promoting fresh fruits, fruit-based products, OCOP-certified goods, and specialties in the Mekong Delta region will also be held throughout the festival.

In particular, the water music, light and artistic mapping show will take place from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The show will offer a modern multimedia experience while telling the story of Dong Thap’s land, people, culture, and agricultural achievements.

The performance is designed to reinforce the province’s position as one of the delta’s leading fruit-producing hubs.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to explore an extensive exhibition space recreating the entire fruit industry value chain.

The displays will feature scientific and technological advances in fruit cultivation and processing, agricultural machinery and equipment, fruit tree seedlings, farming materials, major fruit orchards, processed fruit products, and information on fruit-exporting enterprises.

Festival-goers will have the chance to explore many of Dong Thap Province’s most valuable and commercially important fruits, including mangoes, durians, rambutans, rose apples, jackfruit, longan, star apples, pomelos, and dragon fruit.

Also, a program, titled ‘Labeling Trees with Ages,’ aims to honor orchard owners who have cultivated fruit trees for decades and will present a catalog of fruit trees aged 20 years or older across the province.

Strengthening competitiveness of Dong Thap agriculture

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment, the province currently has nearly 135,000 hectares of fruit-growing land, producing some 2.48 million metric tons of fruit annually.

Key crops include durians, mangoes, jackfruits, dragon fruit, longan, and pomelos.

In the first four months of 2026, fruit output reached nearly 736,000 metric tons.

The province has also been granted nearly 1,330 growing-area codes covering about 55,000 hectares, supporting product traceability and export requirements.

Le Ha Luan, director of the department, said the festival is expected to be more than a promotional event.

“We hope the Dong Thap Fruit Festival will become the starting point for a new stage of development for the fruit industry, and act as a platform where quality, branding, traceability, and value-chain linkages form the foundation for the long-term competitiveness of Dong Thap’s agricultural products,” he said.