Vietnam Colors of life11

1. Colors of life

3. Dragon fruit cactus, also known as pitaya, is a vining cactus with long, flattened leaves and brilliantly colored fruits that develop after the plant flowers

4. The fruiting cactus is native to various regions of Central America and South America and is cultivated in Colombia, Florida, Australia, Mexico, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and tropical and subtropical parts of the world. They are cactus and need year-round heat. However, unlike other varieties of cactus – they require ample amounts of water

5. Hylocereus undatus The blooms of this plant are one of the largest flowers in the world. It is also unique as the blooms open only for one night. Usually between the nights in early summer and mid-autumn is considered the dragon fruit growing season

6. Besides the spectacular display, the scent you will experience during this one specific night is surreal

7. Dragon plants begin flowering in six to eight months. However, if you are growing them in a container, you may have to wait up to two years to enjoy the fruit. It will also take longer for the fruits to show up if you are planting straight from the seeds

8. But once the plant is mature, you can expect around four to six fruiting cycles in a year from the plant that has the ability to produce fruit for 20 to 30 years

11. For centuries, Viet Nam survived on an agriculturally-based economy with little to no international trade. The Vietnamese learned to modify their land to generate the highest yield possible, including terracing and irrigation. The main crops were rice, sugarcane, cassava, corn, sweet potatoes, nuts, and coffe

12. During and after the Viet Nam war, the country struggled with food shortages and corrupt governments. The years immediately following the war held unsteady and fluctuating agriculture production. Intense drought and flooding hurt irrigation infrastructure, hampering crop yields. Collectivization of agriculture in Viet Nam was enforced by the Communist party until 1988. In 1986, Doi Moi, a large-scale economic reform, was introduced, and it is has been incredibly successful

13. Dragon fruit was brought to Viet Nam by the French in the 19th century, scattered in the garden, until the 1980s were planted commercially. Most of the dragon fruits grown in Viet Nam are Hylocereus undatus, with red or pink skin/white-fleshed remaining as red-fleshed. The red-skin fruit with white-fleshed accounts for 95%, the remaining 5% is red-skin fruit with red-fleshed

14. In Vietnam, at present, the area for dragon fruit (DF-pitaya) is about 45,450 ha with a total production of 587,968 tons and the average DF area per household is 0.5- 1 ha. Unfortunately, producers of DF have seen prices of fruits decline since the product mainly are sold to local consumption or neighboring countries

15. Vietnamese White – Hylocereus undatus Dragon fruit season is from April to October, the most from May to August

18. The Dragon fruit goes by many names including pitaya, pitahaya, strawberry pear, cactus fruit, buha naga, and Belle of the Night. The three main types of dragon fruit

29. The economic value of dragon fruit in Viet Nam has skyrocketed in the past decades. Dragon fruit makes up 55% of the country’s fruit export turnover. A small portion of the dragon fruit grown in Viet Nam is sold domestically, roughly 20%, while the remaining 80% is sold internationally

31. In order to maintain producing throughout the year Vietnamese farmers have developed a Lighting technique to the dragon fruit for the off-season

32. Currently, dragon fruit lighting techniques used at night to handle off-season flowering in short-term conditions have been widely applied by farmers to bring high profits. Depending on the season, the time for lighting the lamp like the number of nights, the number of hours per night changes accordingly so that the dragon fruit tree can flower

34. In 2016, the country earned US$895 million from the export of dragon fruit

35. The main importer of Vietnamese dragon fruit in China, who makes up over 90% of total turnover, followed by the US and Thailand, who account for approximately 2% of total turnover each

36. Massive amounts of dragon fruit have been going unsold in Viet Nam, as the country shut down much of its trade with China due to coronavirus concerns

43. Prices of dragon fruit have continuously plunged since China began suspending imports of Vietnamese goods, including farm produce, via the Lao Cai International Border Gate in light of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

44. A bakery in Viet Nam has created a new type of bread to use up the tons of dragon fruit going unsold due to the coronavirus outbreak

45. In an effort to use up the excess fruit, Sai Gon-based chain ABC Bakery developed a new recipe for bright pink bread, replacing 60% of the water in the dough with dragon fruit smoothie. The result is bread that appears darker in color with a natural flavor and fragrance, without being overpowered by the fruit’s sweetness

46. The bread was an instant sensation in Viet Nam. Even as the chain quickly ramped up production to make 20,000 loaves of dragon fruit bread a day, ABC Bakery told that it had been forced to limit customers to only buying five loaves at a time

47. The idea occurred to him during a recent field trip to the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, where he saw many ripe fruits left unharvested at local dragon fruit farms

48. Despite a wait of 20-30 minutes, its unique dragon fruit bread still attracts a large number of customers daily. Eager customers are seen eating their newly bought bread on the spot to give it a taste test

49. Text and pictures: Internet All copyrights belong to their respective owners Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanu www.slideshare.net/michaelasanda http://ma-planete.com/michaelasanda 2021 Sound Son Nam Sen · Le Hieu color of love (Sao Truc) fragment 3

50. Vietnam (sometimes written as Viet Nam), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is located at the eastern edge of the Indochinese Peninsula, and is divided into 58 provinces and five municipalities, covering 331,699 square kilometres, with a population of over 96 million inhabitants, making it the world's sixteenth-most populous country. Vietnam is a unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republic, one of the two communist states (the other being Laos) in Southeast Asia