Dragon fruit prices crash, Jiang Yilu and Lin Mengzi couple bury themselves in breeding, hoping new varieties break through

With bananas and pineapples successively reported to have price crashes, outsiders speculate that dragon fruit, now entering its production season, will be the next "victim." In recent years dragon fruit prices have been good, and many farmers rushed to plant it, keeping prices constantly at risk of collapse. "If you don't have your own customer base, we don't recommend growing it," advise Jiang Yilu and Lin Mengzi, a husband-and-wife team who have long studied dragon fruit.

Both Jiang Yilu and Lin Mengzi once studied in the doctoral program of the Department of Horticulture at National Taiwan University, and more than four years ago they returned to Neimen, Kaohsiung to actually grow dragon fruit, applying their past academic knowledge to field cultivation. Being on the front line of cultivation, they are all the more keenly aware of farmers rushing to plant. "The vast majority of farmers see dragon fruit making money and follow into the market, but the market expectation is clearly that prices are heading downward."

Having foreseen the price crash crisis, the two advised surrounding farmers not to grow dragon fruit, but were instead questioned as seeking profit for their own dragon fruit, and were even mocked. "When we first started saying don't plant it, we were at our most pitiful, because dragon fruit prices hadn't crashed yet; we talked about it for two years and got scolded by farmers for two years. Every time we went to drink tea we got teased."

The couple has great chemistry, carrying out breeding to create a new market for dragon fruit

Visiting the park they operate to observe, because of heavy rain a few days earlier, the park was still somewhat muddy. Jiang Yilu said that if days of heavy rain cause flooding in the field, the branches are prone to rot, which may further cause disease, "so when first designing the field area, drainage must be done well."

And although the interview had just mentioned that orchards must value cleanliness, when actually arriving at the orchard there were still some branch residues not cleaned up. Jiang Yilu joked, "So every time we come down to walk the field ourselves, the two of us argue." Although they "argue," in conversation the two have excellent chemistry, playing off each other and supplementing the key points the other missed.

One buries himself in the field planting, one stands in the lecture hall teaching, each in their proper place yet inseparable. Lin Mengzi knows his passion for teaching; when talking about school matters, she is as clear as if she were the person involved; Jiang Yilu understands her rural life, and never misses any situation in the park.

The two have joined hands researching dragon fruit all along, and have also watched the dragon fruit industry evolve all along, from the initially poorer varieties to the improved Dahong and Fugui Hong with good flavor, sugar content, and quality. Facing farmers entering one after another to rush-plant and a chaotic market, Jiang Yilu believes, "To break out in the dragon fruit market, we must rely on new varieties, which perhaps can slowly replace the current cultivation area and create a new market." At present the two continuously carry out breeding work, including yellow dragon and bicolor dragon fruit, and although there are not yet clear results, they are still planting seeds for a future new dragon fruit market.