After the visit to the United States of America in 2008, by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, a story about Vietnamese blue dragon fruit to be exported to the United States stirred the attention of both Vietnamese farmers and businesses engaged in exporting fruit and vegetables. The blue dragon trees were cultivated in Vietnam long ago, mostly in the waterless fields or on the dyke embankments and hills. Over the past 15 years the blue dragons have been much sought after in the northern provinces and exported to some countries, which leads to an increase in the blue dragon cultivation acreage, particularly in the southern provinces of Binh Thuan, Long An and Tien Giang. Blue dragon trees in bloom. Workers of the Hoang Hau Dragon Fruit Farm Company Ltd., tend to blue dragon trees. Packing blue dragons for export at a business in Binh Thuan Province . Harvesting blue dragons at the farms run by Hoang Hau Blue Dragon Company Ltd. Packing blue dragons for export. At the farms of the Hoang Hau Dragon Fruit Farm Company Ltd., light is on all night to help blue dragons grow quickly. Blue dragon farms in Binh Thuan Province. Binh Thuan Province has about 10,000ha used to cultivate the blue dragon trees with an annual average output of over 200,000 tonnes, the highest nationwide. The cultivated area for this kind of fruit tree is small compared to the province's total farming land of 170,000ha, but profits earned from these trees account for 30% of the province's agricultural production value. Being considered one of the foods to eliminate hunger and poverty, blue dragon cultivation quickly developed and is a major factor in raising the spirit and income of the local farmers. The initial investment in blue dragon cultivation is about 50-60 million VND per hectare, a rather hefty cost, however the annual gross take is around 200-300 million VND/ha. It is not easy to export blue dragons to such a competitive market as the United States . Tran Ngoc Hiep, General Director of Hoang Hau (Queen) Dragon Fruit Farm Company Ltd., and President of Binh Thuan Blue Dragon Fruit Association said that besides the necessity of meeting international packing standards and adhering to clean cultivation principles, all blue dragon containers must be checked with ultra-rays before they are accepted for export to the US . In July 2008, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the US Department of Agriculture and the Plant Protection Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development signed documents to implement measures for plant quarantine, including checks-up with ultra-rays. Nguyen Van Thu, Vice Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People's Committee, who just returned home after leading a delegation for a market survey trip to the United States said that businesses which have been granted EUREPGAP (a common standard for farm management practices created in the late 1990s by several European supermarket chains and their major suppliers) and GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) have to follow the process of growing clean blue dragons so as to supply quality products to the US partners. Only after being approved will advanced cultivating techniques be passed on to farmers who grow blue dragon trees under the VIETGAP standard and apply the standard to the cultivation of clean blue dragons on a large scale. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) implemented a project to support the blue dragon-growing farmers, allowing them to approach the US market by organising training courses on a closed process of blue dragon production, from preparing land, growing and tending the trees with fertilizers, harvesting, packing and preserving the fruit. At present, there are five farms and businesses in Binh Thuan Province growing blue dragon trees on an area of 3,000ha who have been granted VIETGAP certificate by the Vietnamese Department of Plant Protection and accepted by the US side with the code for checking the origin of the fruit. The clean production process has been applied to hundreds more hectares under blue dragon cultivation in the province. Among successful businesses growing and exporting blue dragon fruit, the Hoang Hau  Dragon Fruit Farm Company Ltd., takes the lead nationwide. Established in 1988 in the form of the farming gardens with only three ha of reclaimed land for growing blue dragon trees and some short-term vegetables, by 2009 the Company had up to 600ha, including 300ha for growing organic blue dragons under the EUREPGAP and US market standards. Hoang Hau Company Ltd., is the first Vietnamese business trading in blue dragons on a commercial scale. With the trademark "Queen Blue Dragon", the fruit has been available in many countries in Asia and Europe. During a survey trip to the International Agriculture Fair 2008 held in Can Tho City, Southern Vietnam, the US Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City, Kenneth J. Fairfax, spoke with the press about Vietnam's capability of exporting agricultural products to the United States, in which he emphasized that Vietnam's blue dragon exports to the US is one of the country's successes. Besides blue dragons, the Cuu Long River delta has many other kinds of fruits. The US market is always wide open, on the condition that those fruits meet food hygienic safety and medical requirements. TheUnited States is ready to co-operate with any business or organization wanting to export Vietnamese fruits to the US market. (Tom Sutton, Senior Expert, USD Department of Agriculture)  Story: Huu Thanh Photos: Le Cuong – Kim Son