At the end of November 2017, the members of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA) conducted the first phase of the annual survey to assess the production situation, thereby making clearer comments. Regarding the upcoming 2018 pepper crop in two major pepper provinces in the Southeast region.
In Dong Nai, the Study Team visited two districts developing strong pepper in recent years, Xuan Loc with about 3,000 ha and Cam My about 4,000 ha, accounting for about 50% of the total area of the province. In BR-VT, the delegation also conducted a survey of the two largest pepper growing districts of BR-VT, Chau Duc, which has about 5,500 hectares, accounting for nearly 70% of the total pepper area of the whole province and Xuyen Moc district, where has the largest new planting area in the province since 2014.
VPA delegation visited the field survey of pepper gardens of farmers
Survey results and preliminary interviews with 28 households showed that:
1- The orchards are in good shape, the fruit is less sparse than the previous year, especially the gardens planted over 8 years.
2- The harvested area increased compared to the previous year in all survey sites of the two provinces, especially in the newly developed regions from 2013/2014. For example, in Xuan Tho, Xuan Loc and Dong Nai communes, in 2014, only about 500 hectares of pepper were harvested, and in 2018, 800 hectares will be harvested, up nearly 60%.
3. Pepper planted on dark gray soil is less affected by productivity than pepper grown on red soil. Many pepper gardens planted on black soil in Xuyen Moc are well drained, yield is not nearly reduced significantly. However, there are still about 2 more months to be harvested as expected productivity is still about 3-4 kg dry / head.
4. The pepper garden planted on red soil is poorly drained, so it affects the roots, the vitality of the tree adds fungus, snow strongly attacks because the roots are damaged, rot due to waterlogged so the yield decreases 30-50 % compared to the previous year, each pillar reached only about 1.5-2kg dry in all gardens in the regions of Xuan Tho, Lam San (Dong Nai), Quang Thanh, Quang Giao, Binh Gia, Binh Trung, Hoa Hiep ( BR-VT).
5- Many farmers install and depend entirely on automatic irrigation systems, while this year's continuous rain has also reduced the productivity of gardens and orchards have higher mortality rates than the previous year due to waterlogged trees.
6. Any garden with a good drainage system, sparsely planted or intercropped, planted on new land (for example, farmers' gardens in Quang Giao, Binh Gia, Xuyen Moc), with normal yields like the previous year. No significant reduction.
7- This year, in Dong Nai and BR-VT areas, farmers did not plant new trees, but still planted back dead trees.
8. The production cost of pepper production in the two regions is now on par with the selling price in the market in December 2017 (about 72,000 VND / kg of pepper 500g / l) because farmers include the land investment. In the BRVT region, production costs are higher than other areas because pepper has been cultivated for many years, so the quality of the soil is poor, the pH is low, and there are many residues of pests and diseases, so it has to pay for renovation and improvement of fertility fertilizers, pesticides more than the same planting 5-10 years. In addition, there are also the phenomenon of small farmers (investing only a few sao) who have neglected to invest in care. Households with large areas also do not invest in fertilizers and medicines as much as the previous year. However, all are still determined to grow pepper without the intention of breaking down, even if the price goes lower.
9- Surveyed 28 households, with 4 households still keeping the 2017 crop (about 14%), households with less than 1 ton, but some households still hold 9 tons. The households do not borrow money from banks, so they are not under selling pressure to pay off their debts and want to keep it as a currency when they need to spend money to sell.
10- The psychology of the crop to the beginning knows that the price will not be as expected as 2015/2016, so most said it will be sold right after the 2018 crop is harvested.
11- The next harvest period of 2018 will depend on the weather. This year rains heavily, the number of sunny hours is less, so it is likely to be harvested later than the previous year, harvested after the Lunar New Year (around the end of February 2018).
Source VPA (peppervietnam.com)
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