Helpless looking dead pepper
Thousands of pepper farmers across Dak Nong province are helplessly watching the trees die. Billionaire dream thanks to the type of agricultural product dubbed the “black gold” shattered, leaving only the debt of billions of people did not know where to pay. Vu Dang Khoa's house (in hamlet 16, Dak Wer commune, Dak R’lap district) has nearly 3 hectares of pepper, from the beginning of December 2018 until now, the sudden death condition has been dizzying. After 1 month, about 2,700 original pepper of his house died. Khoa's family stood still because the bank loan was about to mature, while the pepper garden, which was only collected for a year, had died almost.
Pepper gardens of people in Dak R’lap district (Dak Nong) died in mass
In Dak N’Drung commune (Dak Song district), farmers are also suffering from the death. From the time of pepper phenomenon, the phenomenon of yellowing leaves till the time of death is less than a week, making gardeners unable to return. Many households spend hundreds of millions to invite teachers and buy pesticides for pepper but it is not effective. In 2018, Dak Song district alone had nearly 1,700 hectares of pepper infected, more than 200 hectares of pepper were completely dead.
The situation of dead pepper mass has also flared up again in Gia Lai province with about 1,000 hectares of pepper died. Many households whose pepper gardens died were in debt, and their lives encountered numerous difficulties. Along the asphalt road from hamlet 1 to hamlet 2, Ia Kha town (Ia Grai district), both sides of the road are deadly. Many dead white gardens, dry trees remain on the pillars.
Doan Quyet Thang's family (village 2, town of Ia Kha) with 0.5 ha of pepper planted in 2016 started to harvest fortune-telling, but 85% of the trees were dead, the rest were showing signs of death. Trees die from leaves and stems are dried, young fruits dropping to the ground. “Pepper is green, after a long period of heavy rains, the leaves turn yellow from the top and spread to the root and begin to dry. The family found ways but could not save. To plant and care for this pepper garden, I spent more than VND 700 million, including VND 300 million from a bank loan. Thinking about growing pepper will have a high income, if one doubts empty-handed, even hugging a debt, ”Mr. Thang said sadly.
Breaking the planning, disease risk
According to the Western Highlands Agro-Forestry Science and Technology Institute – WASI, the whole Central Highlands region currently has more than 92,992 hectares of pepper, concentrated mainly in the provinces of Gia Lai, Dak Lak and Dak Nong, of which pepper has been put into business for revenue. 50,099 ha plan. Statistics show that by the end of December 2018, more than 3,500 hectares of pepper were killed, causing damage to farmers worth trillions of dong. At present, in the Central Highlands provinces, there are still nearly 3,000 ha of infected pepper trees, so the possibility of dead pepper area will increase.
According to Dr. Truong Hong – Director of WASI, one of the reasons for this situation is that farmers defied the recommendations, massively expanding the area of pepper trees many times higher than planned, but the Functional departments are unstoppable. According to the plan, by 2020 Dak Lak will only increase to 15,000 hectares of pepper, but now has actually planted more than 38,600 hectares. Dak Nong province planned to increase the pepper area to 13,000 ha by 2025, but now it is 35,000 ha. Gia Lai province planned to 2020 is 6,000 ha, now has increased to nearly 16,322 ha.
Mr. Truong Thanh Tung – Vice Chairman of Dak Nong Province, said: From 2016 to now, people in Dak Nong province have planted more than ten thousand hectares of pepper. Many new planted areas have no control over seed quality, soil treatment, and field sanitation, so the potential for epidemics spreads, causing many pepper gardens to die. Meanwhile, the development of pepper production in the province is not sustainable, farmers still abuse plant protection drugs, chemical fertilizers, growth stimulants to increase productivity and output.
Along with the expansion of the area massively, the quality control of pepper seeds in the Central Highlands is also left open. At times of high price, traveling along Ho Chi Minh road through Gia Lai, Dak Lak province or in front of WASI gate – a place specializing in producing pepper varieties, we found that the variety of pepper is sold widely with price difference sometimes up to several tens of thousands. Normally, the price of a quality pepper seed is about 25,000 VND, but some places only sell 6,000 VND. Most farmers buy pepper from other farmers for resale, or at local small seed production facilities.
Growing pepper on unsuitable land areas Dr. Truong Hong said: Many farmers in the Central Highlands put pepper trees on irrelevant, poorly drained land areas, leading to the possibility of mass deaths. The use of unknown varieties by farmers, excessive intensive investment, and over-use of chemical fertilizers led to poisoning of pepper plants. When the price of pepper falls low, pepper production households in the Central Highlands do not invest in adequate care, causing pepper to be underdeveloped and depleted, leading to pests and diseases in orchards. dead series.
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