“Capital of pepper” was shattered, debt of more than 4,000 billion

However, in a near future, the locations of Chu Pưh, Chu Se … of Gia Lai are press stories for farmers after one night becoming a billionaire and building houses, buying good cars thanks to growing pepper. with the nickname “pepper capital”.

Farmers owe more than 4,300 billion

We return to Chu Puh district – the “capital” of pepper in Gia Lai province and the Central Highlands in the last days of September. And we no longer believe our eyes when it suddenly became quiet, gloomy. . Everywhere, only women, children and the elderly are seen.

Mr. Van Viet Sy (69 years old) in Ia Blu commune sighed: “Men of working age, moved to big cities in the South such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai … as workers. , protection to make money to pay interest on bank debt “due to sudden death of a series of spending.

Mr. Sy planted 4,000 pepper posts, died out of 3,000 pillars (on average, 1,000 investment posts cost about 1 billion VND including money to buy land), the rest are still uneasy and difficult to survive. In prosperous times, his family hired 15-20 laborers to work for 3 months, only to harvest. The original death of white pepper, he did not bother to visit.

Looking at the luxurious built house but the door was closed, the grass was overgrown by his younger brother Van Viet Nhan (60 years old), Mr. Sy was sad: “The couple finished the house when it was right to die. . Out of the way, it led his wife and children to Binh Duong to be a worker. Bank house squeezed debt.

Dead pepper and the pillars were spit up piled up.

Other people in Ia Blu commune, Mr. Dang Thanh Long recalled, the peak of the pepper plant was from 2014 and earlier. At this time, each kilogram of pepper costs VND200-250,000, high-rise buildings and villas sprout up; karaoke, pubs, restaurants like mushrooms after rain. Beginning in 2015, pepper to death, gradually died.

In 2016, there was widespread death, in 2017, there was no tree left. And in 2018, people were “dead”, pepper prices fell to a terrible bottom of 47 thousand VND / kg, people officially fell to the abyss, no one mentioned pepper.

Mr. Long said, only young people get married, leave their home, do not have a red book, do not mortgage the land, the home is not debt. The remaining 90% of the population of the commune is a bank debtor; less then 200 million, more then about 2 billion size.

Many households borrow badly and steeply all measures to save pepper. Some households spent hundreds of millions of VND to hire an agricultural engineer, then gave up. Pepper still cannot come to life.

Bad jokes bad jokes are the case of Mr. Vui. He has “resisted heaven” by pouring all his capital, buying a piece of land of ethnic minorities near the edge of the forest, away from residential areas as well as long-time pepper growing areas of the people in the region. grow pepper. Pepper grows as fast as it is green.

Many district leaders came in to visit, hoped for, and then the television station also turned to shoot, the prospect of a new model of pepper cultivation to save the people was slowly unfolding. Painfully, pepper died on the day of harvest, death could not be saved, without cause. Anh Vui hugged a pile of debt.

According to the State Bank branch of Gia Lai province, the total loan outstanding for farmers to cultivate and take care of pepper is 4,382 billion dongs, particularly Chu Puh district accounts for about 1,500 billion dongs with 8,104 households. An official here shook his head when enumerating a number of households who had fled or were distrained by the bank like his household: Nguyen Van Kh, Nguyen Van T, Mr. Vuong H. .., or households voluntarily handed over their assets. For banks like his household: Nguyen H, Nguyen L, Le Van Th … “There are many, not fully listed!”, the official said.

In particular, a report of Ia Blu commune said: “The households are so exhausted that they have to borrow hot credit to pay interest and principal of the bank”. And in fact, many farmers in this local “black credit” interest rates are too high, unable to pay, have been foreclosed.

Dead pepper has many causes

More than 1 year ago, also on this newspaper, we called for “Rescuing the pepper capital” with the reason that the local pepper trees are suffering from mass diseases and white death on a large scale. However, after one year we returned, the object of rescue is now the pepper growers because the pepper itself has nothing left to save!

Now in Chư Pưh district, people are selling house signs. Children are mischievous and illiterate because their families are in debt, and adults flee and flee to the southern provinces to earn a living. “If 1-2 years from now, there are no trees to replace, revive the economy, only the country will allocate land to the bank or surrender to the countryside or find another place to live,” Mr. Dang Thanh Long said.

What to do to save pepper growers? “Immediate stop is planting new pepper plants. Even, quit altogether without planting within 5 years ”. Mr. Hoang Phuoc Binh, Permanent Vice Chairman – General Secretary of Chu Se – Gia Lai Pepper Association recommends boldly but seems reasonable in the current context.

Mr. Binh said, now the quantity of pepper supplied has exceeded demand. The import and export volume of the world was 372 thousand tons, while Vietnam exported 215 thousand tons (20 thousand tons Vietnam bought from other countries, re-exported, 2017 data). After 5 years, the market regulates itself and the area will decrease by itself. “Because of the low price of pepper, people will give up investment, transfer new crops, reduce investment, pests and diseases … will pull down the area of ​​pepper.”

Suggesting the way for farmers of Chu Pu and Chu Se, Mr. Hoang Phuoc Binh said that the weather in Gia Lai is very suitable for fruit trees. For industrial crops, although the prices are low, the income is not high, the specialty trees of the Central Highlands are still coffee trees. Second, effective, productive is avocado. And focus should be on the avocado tree.

Similarly, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Truong Phuoc Anh, said that, first of all, he had to clean the garden, burn the dead pepper lines, cultivate the soil to detoxify because of the large amount of fertilizer and pesticide in the soil. ; even taking a few years off before the pepper replanting program. On the other hand, it is possible to plant some alternative crops such as passion fruit, sachi, durian or conditionally back to replant coffee.

Recently, when the Government and the Standing Committee of the National Assembly gave comments on how to solve difficulties for Gia Lai pepper industry, Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam – Gia Lai branch – Mr. Nguyen Hai Son – issued a written document only. leaders of commercial banks and social policy banks proactively reviewed and synthesized losses that customers (farmers) who borrowed money to cultivate pepper suffer from disease outbreaks. Apply supportive measures, such as rescheduling loan repayment, considering exemption and reduction of loan interest rates, and new loans to restore production.

Governor of the State Bank Le Minh Hung also “reached out” to rescue Gia Lai province when issuing a document announcing natural disasters and epidemics. However, from a local perspective, Gia Lai province could not announce the outbreak because it did not qualify, there was no strange creature appearing in the pepper plant.

In fact, according to the representative of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Gia Lai province, pepper in this locality died for many reasons, including price, climate change, water shortage, excessive intensification, quality control varieties, farmers. ignoring the recommendations of real science officials, experts, scientists … running for money.