The delegation of 17 members from 10 enterprises surveyed a number of pepper growing households in Trang Bom, Cam My, Dong Nai and Chau Duc, Xuyen Moc, Ba Ria – Vung Tau districts, which are districts with a large area. the largest pepper cultivation area of the two provinces.
Preliminary results show that
– Most households will harvest after the Lunar New Year about 2-3 weeks (ie from February 20 of the solar calendar) due to the early Tet, so the harvest is earlier than the previous year.
– The output of these regions is similar to the 2016 crop, although the pest and disease situation is better. The reason this area has a large area is that the old pepper garden over 15 years old has a lower yield than the previous year, except for a few gardens that are carefully cared for by the owner, so the yield is still equivalent to the previous crop. The increase in output is therefore mainly due to an area of new pepper gardens planted from 2012-2013 starting to be harvested to compensate for the lost output of old pepper gardens;
– Weather is still the biggest factor affecting pepper production this season. In Dong Nai, a lot of rain in June and July has made some pepper gardens old, with poor resistance to cotton loss, and the chains are flat and have no fruit;
In addition, although pests and diseases are not as large as in the 2015 crop, they smolder in waves, especially diseases that die slowly (mainly due to nematodes and some harmful fungi), so farmers still have to use pesticides. However, 100% of the surveyed farmers said that they had stopped using all pesticides from November because in December there were no significant pests and diseases on pepper.
– The trend of forming cooperative groups or having association with pepper growing enterprises in the direction of sustainable organic (fertilizing cows, goats, etc.) Clean pepper farmers are supported 50% of the cost of testing samples, ensuring output and an additional bonus of 5,000 VND/kg if the sample is not contaminated with Metaxyl and Carbedazim. The test results are kept by the households and who they want to sell to, whenever they want. With this mechanism, many farmers here are turning to sustainable organic farming.
– However, because they want to find more income, some farmers still use a lot of inorganic fertilizers, mainly N, P, K single fertilizers bought and mixed by themselves. In addition, additional fertilizers are used to stimulate fruiting.
– Most of the interviewed farmers still have pepper stock, an average of a few tons/household because of the mentality that November-December is the time when pepper prices usually increase compared to the beginning of the crop. However, now pepper price is going down, only about 139,000 VND/kg of black pepper (first price), so many farmers are still hoarding and not selling. Farmers still mainly buy and sell through traders, so they are still quite dependent (price, weight measuring tools, etc.) , Xuyen Moc.
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