The Vietnamese company planning to create Australia's largest dragon fruit farm hopes to plant its first crops in the Northern Territory (NT) this year.
The CT Group of Vietnam Monday signed a Project Facilitation Agreement with the NT Government, paving the way for its plan to grow 10,000 hectares of dragon fruit in NT, ABC News reports.
Company's president Tran Kim Chung said the Northern Territory provided ideal growing conditions and his company was prepared to invest up to US$100 million.
"We're very confident and we believe the conditions are better here to grow this tree. The consumption of dragon fruit is increasing everywhere and in Japan and the US it's increasing rapidly, so we hope to create a very good, new, modern plantation for this very profitable crop, he said."
Chung believes the dragon fruit project could employ up to 500 people.
The CT Group is already a major producer of dragon fruit and through its network of small farms across Vietnam produced around 460,000 tonnes last year.
