To cope with a 15.28% rise of the electricity price, dragon-fruit farmers in Binh Thuan have found for themselves an efficient solution to save electric energy.

We were in Ham Thuan Bac district these days when the out-of-season dragon fruit were priced over VND20 thousand per kg. Thus, taking advantage of this, many dragon fruit farmers were concentrating on lighting to stimulate dragon plants to bear fruit in time for high prices. At 6 pm, we met Pham Kha Thanh who was busying himself with hanging up light-bulbs in his orchard in Lam Giao neighborhood of Ma Lam Town to stimulate the dragon plants to flower against the season. The light-bulbs he was hanging up were the compact ones which he had bought at VND30,000 a bulb. I wondered why he was not using incandescent bulbs which were not only cheaper but could make plants produce more flowers as well. Thanh smacked his tongue, saying: "In face of such high prices of electricity at present, lighting with incandescent bulbs is so costly. I would rather invest once and for all in compact bulbs which consume much less electric energy, only one third as compared to incandescent bulbs ".

Currently, there are 200 dragon plants of three years old in Thanh’s orchard. He said he had spent nearly VND5 million to purchase 100 electric energy saving bulbs and the eclectic wire for lighting in his orchard. When lighted, these 100 compact bulbs consume only 2000W/h, which is equivalent to that consumed by a large water pump. Thus, on average, each lighting phase costs only about 400 thousand or VND500 thousand , saving as much as one million VND from not using incandescent bulbs. Thanh reckoned, for the plants to produce abundant fruit with nice taste, at least 4 lighting phases should be needed in one crop. By doing so, he could save more than VND4 million .

Sharing the same thoughts with Thanh, Nguyen Manh Hung in Ham Chinh Village confirmed that lighting compact bulbs to stimulate dragon plants to bear out-of-season fruit had some benefits. First, it reduced the expense on electric energy by half and more bulbs could be used as compared to lighting by incandescent bulbs. 300 compact bulbs instead of 100 incandescent ones could be lighted by the same grid. Second, lighting by compact bulbs would make the plant produce a moderate number of flowers, thus saving time from picking off the redundant flowers as well as making the plant soon recover after the harvest. Third, it could help the power sector tackle the problem of electricity shortage.

Hung told us that his family was cultivating more than 1,000 dragon plants. Thanks to lighting by compact bulbs, he recently harvested a bumper crop of out-of-season dragon fruit. After deducting the expenses, he gained more than VND100 million . "Saving electric energy is imperative. It is beneficial to not only community but also each household", Hung said with satisfaction.

Many experienced dragon-fruit farmers in Ham Thuan Bac confirmed that lighting compact bulbs to stimulate dragon plants to produce out-of-season fruit brought about no less efficiency as compared to lighting by incandescent bulbs. It even had more advantages such as reduction of expenses on electric energy, longer duration of electric bulbs, moderate number of flowers, and less time for picking off redundant flowers.

Besides changing incandescent bulbs to electric energy saving compact bulbs, many farmers here also studied to reduce the hours of lighting so as to lower the expenses on electric energy to the minimum. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai, the owner of a construction materials & electrical equipment shop in Ham Thang Village told us that since the beginning of March, though the prices of compact bulbs fluctuated from VND3,500 to VND40,000 a bulb (a rather high rise by VND5-6 thousand per bulb), more and more customers chose to buy electric energy saving bulbs, while fewer and fewer customers bought the incandescent ones.

Reportedly, Ham Thuan Bac is one of the districts that have largest dragon-plant-cultivating area in Binh Thuan. Since last August, prices of dragon fruit for export remaining rather stable at between VND15,000 to VND18,000 per kg, and sometimes reaching a peak of over VND20,000 per kg, has helped farmers increase income, improve their lives. But dragon fruit farmers are also facing many difficulties, namely the rise of the electricity prices, the so high price of a compact bulb, thus resulting in an increase of the initial capital and the daily worry of compact bulbs being stolen. However, in the difficult time, particularly with the pressure from electricity prices as well as fuel prices, farmers in Ham Thuan Bac have found an effective way of reducing expenses, which they have never thought of before but is so easy to do.

By Nguyen An