The organizer of the annual Southern Fruit Festival, which will start early next month in HCMC, expects the event to help promote southern fruits and achieve sales of around 1,000 tons of fruit, up around 200 tons from last year’s event.
The festival will include activities such as the floating fruit market, a contest of good and safe fruit, the fruit food festival and many other cultural and food activities in Suoi Tien Cultural Park in District 9.
The main activities will take place in the first week of the event with other attractions including the floating fruit market taking place during the three months of the summer season.
“The price of fruit will be 20 to 45% lower than market prices. Farmers in 17 cities and provinces will sell around 45 different fruits and also promote over 300 kinds of fruits in Suoi Tienâ€, the organizer said.
The event is organized by the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Suoi Tien Cultural Park.
One million visitors are expected to come to the festival along with traders who will be seeking business opportunities.
“Some Chinese traders, who visited the festival last year, asked us to arrange meetings with local farmers for business deals. We expect more local and foreign traders will come this time,†said Pham Thiet Hoa, director of the HCMC’s Center for Agriculture Consultancy and Support.
The city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also promoted Dat Phuong Nam food festival, which takes place in Dam Sen Cultural Park in District 11 from Friday to Sunday.
The organizer said nearly 30 exhibitors from 10 provinces and cities have registered 54 booths at the park. Around 200 dishes of southern food will be promoted at the festival.