My uncle to replace orchard with durian farm for potential $40,000 yearly income

My uncle and his wife have a 3,000-square-meter plot of farmland where they used to grow vegetables such as squash and bitter melon. Those crops took about six months to yield produce, which they often picked and sold to local consumers. They spent all of the money on essentials and bills, leaving no savings at all.

Once, when Thai jackfruit prices soared to up to VND1 million for a 30- to 40-kilogram fruit, they decided to stop growing fast-maturing crops and planted jackfruit trees instead. However, jackfruit takes years to bear fruit, so my uncle and his son had to work as manual laborers to make ends meet.

But life is unpredictable. By the time their orchard began to produce fruits, jackfruit prices had dropped and their dream of getting rich vanished. With prices no longer at their peak, my uncle and aunt chopped down the trees to switch back to vegetables.

When they heard that star apples were fetching good prices, they transitioned to that crop. Now that their star apple trees are about to yield fruits, durian prices are soaring. Seeing their neighbors earn billions of dong from the stinky fruit, my uncle and aunt are tempted to make another switch.

Changing crops on the whim of the market is not uncommon for farmers, yet only those who planted them early and can harvest by the time prices rise manage to become rich. I do not know if my uncle and aunt realize that it takes years and significant funding to grow durians. I cannot help but wonder: will they manage to strike it rich this time?

*This opinion was translated into English with the assistance of AI. Readers’ views are personal and do not necessarily match VnExpress’ viewpoints.