First Dong Thap Fruit Festival 2026 Officially Opens

(DTO) On the evening of June 5, the People's Committee of Dong Thap Province officially opened the first Dong Thap Fruit Festival 2026.

Among those attending the event were Ms. Truong My Hoa, former Secretary of the Party Central Committee and former Vice President; Mr. Le Minh Hoan, former Member of the Party Central Committee and former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly; Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoai Thu, former Member of the Party Central Committee and former Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs; and Mr. Duong Trung Y, Member of the Party Central Committee and Editor-in-Chief of the Communist Review.

Provincial leaders attending the ceremony included Mr. Ngo Chi Cuong, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Mr. Phan Van Thang, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Dong Thap Province; Ms. Chau Thi My Phuong, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and head of the province’s National Assembly deputies delegation; Mr. Pham Thanh Ngai, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; and Mr. Nguyen Van Muoi, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and head of the Provincial Party Committee’s Organization Commission.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chairman Pham Thanh Ngai stressed that the festival is not only a cultural, tourism and trade event, but also an occasion to honor farmers' labor achievements, promote the potential and strengths of the fruit industry, and showcase the land, people and natural beauty of Dong Thap.

The festival also serves as a platform connecting local authorities, scientists, businesses, cooperatives, orchardists, and consumers, thereby promoting trade, attracting investment and supporting tourism development of Dong Thap Province.

According to Chairman Pham Thanh Ngai, Dong Thap, cradled by the gentle and prosperous Tien River and part of the Hau River, has developed large-scale, concentrated fruit-growing regions through generations of hard-working and innovative farmers, creating distinctive advantages unique to the province.

With more than 134,000 hectares of fruit orchards and an annual output exceeding 2.5 million tons, Dong Thap is among Vietnam’s leading fruit-producing localities. In recent years, the province has gradually shifted from an “agricultural production mindset” to an “agricultural economy approach”, developing the sector along value chains while enhancing quality, efficiency and competitiveness.

The province is not only producing on a large scale but is also transitioning strongly toward green, responsible production and heading toward a circular economy.

To ensure sustainable development and meet increasingly stringent domestic and international market requirements, Dong Thap has focused on building standardized raw material zones. The province has strengthened the establishment, management and supervision of granting, using, and maintaining growing area codes and packing facility codes to ensure compliance with traceability, plant quarantine, food safety and importing market regulations.

At the same time, the province is accelerating digital transformation in agriculture through the development of centralized databases, digitization of management records and procedures, and monitoring systems to connect with traceability and specialized management platforms.

These efforts provide an important foundation for improving state management efficiency, ensuring transparency, accuracy, and timeliness in agricultural production and trade. This will satisfy the increasingly strict demands of export markets, helping Dong Thap’s agricultural products reach wider international markets.

The festival is envisioned not merely as a conventional showcase of agricultural products, but as a forum for all participants to reflect on the development journey of the sector and rethink farming practices against the backdrop of digital transformation and climate change.

Dong Thap expects the festival to serve as a solid bridge tightly connecting the "Five-Party Alliance": Farmers, Scientists, Businesses, Financial Institutions, and Logistics Providers. Through this, the province aims to unlock new spaces for collaboration while continuing to promote Vietnamese fruits as safe, high-quality products rich in nutritional value and deeply imbued with regional cultural identity.

According to Chairman Pham Thanh Ngai, visitors and locals to this year’s festival will be immersed in a vibrant cultural space, featuring the fruit industry value-chain showcase, a trade promotion fair, and forward-looking seminars such as “Farmers 4.0” and “Building and Developing Brands for the Province's Key Agricultural Products.” The event will also include a musical water fountain performance, experiential tourism activities, livestream sales events, and a variety of other unique cultural and artistic programs.

Dong Thap aims to gradually develop the festival into an annual regional-scale event and a distinctive cultural, tourism and trade destination for both the province and the Mekong Delta region.

The four-day festival, running from June 5 to June 8, 2026, is themed “Dong Thap – The Land of Sweet Fruits.” Hosted at Hung Vuong Square in Dao Thanh Ward, this provincial-scale event features nine main activities, 12 accompanying events, as well as extensive promotional and communication campaigns.

By M.THANH – V.THAO
Translated by X.quảng