CityNews – Doi Lo Agriculture Community has released a report claiming a sudden increase in demand for fancy gourds leaving farmers with a larger profit margin than ever before.
On February 21st a report was published that revealed that there has been surprisingly large increase in interest for fancy and decorative gourds. The increase has been linked to Chinese New Year, with many gourds being ordered from countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and China.
The Doi Lo Agricultural Community grew over 800,000 gourds over a 90 rai plantation to keep up with demand.
Suptanit Puwiengchan, the president of Doi Lo Agriculture Community enterprise said that the fancy pumpkin is attractive thanks to its unique appearance and small size. This year there was a high demand for yellow and white gourds which are believed to represent silver and gold in Chinese tradition.
Prices for the gourds range between 5 and 15 baht, but due to high demand and a limited number of gourds, prices rose to 50 to 100 baht each. He added that 40% of the money earned covered the costs of production but farmers were fortunate this year and took up to 9,000 baht profit each.