Recently, pepper prices continue at a record low, making farmers in the province difficult. Not only that, this year, people planted pepper again a new worry, when this tree in many localities fell mass in mass, low fruit rate makes the risk of yield reduction.
Falling cotton situation, low fruit set rate caused a sharp drop in pepper production this year
Vu Van Tien's more than 1 hectare pepper garden (hamlet 5, Hoa Hoi commune, Xuyen Moc district) has been over 5 years old and is in the most “vigorous” period. According to our observation, his pepper garden is very well developed, broad spread, lush foliage. However, this year, the rate of fruit set is very low, even less than half that of last year. Mr. Tien said: “Pepper gardens have been tended hard by me, the process of watering and fertilizing are strictly followed, so it develops well without pests. However, it is unknown for what reason that a few months ago, pepper flower and then suddenly almost fall off causing low rate of fruit set. Last year, I collected nearly 3 tons of pepper / ha, expected this year only 1/3. The price of pepper has been low and the labor of harvesting increased so it is likely that this crop loses tens of millions of dong ”.
In Chau Duc district, the largest pepper growing area in the province, many farmers experience the same situation. Mr. Vu Van Thuong (Tan Phu hamlet, Bau Chinh commune, Chau Duc district) has 15 years of experience in growing pepper. However, this year, 1.5 hectares of his pepper is estimated to be less than 2 tons instead of nearly 5 tons as the previous crop. Mr. Thuong said that pepper is a sensitive and erratic tree, and crop failure often happens. However, the mass loss of cotton, yield of 30-50% compared to normal as currently very rare. Mr. Thuong commented: “In my opinion, the cause of this is the erratic change of weather. This year the rainy season comes late, the weather is dry, hot, and the humidity is low, so it is not conducive to the flowering of pepper. This is probably the main reason why many pepper gardens have a sharp decline in productivity. ”
In addition to sharply decreasing productivity, pepper farmers also face a number of raging diseases. Mr. Tran Bay (Quang Thanh commune, Chau Duc district) said that his pepper garden has about 1,000 roots, previously growing and developing well. However, at the beginning of the last rainy season, suddenly the pepper leaves turned yellow and then fell. After that, about 150 peppercorns died and had to be cut down, the rest did not grow as well as before, the damage was nearly 100 million VND.
According to the report of the provincial Department of Plant Protection and Plant Protection (BVTV), the BR-VT pepper area is currently about 13,000 ha, concentrated mainly in Chau Duc and Xuyen Moc districts. Since the beginning of 2019, the whole province has about 200 hectares of pepper with some diseases such as fast death, slow death. Along with the adverse weather also causes a sharp reduction in productivity. Recently, pepper prices stood at a record low level, causing many farmers' hardships. Mr. Nguyen Chi Duc, Director of the provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, said that before the above situation, the provincial agricultural sector had implemented many measures to actively support farmers in disease prevention, in which , focusing on guiding people how to handle and quarantine to avoid spreading diseases; at the same time, use of pesticides effectively and safely. Agriculture sector recommends that in the current difficult time, people do not get discouraged, continue taking care and preventing pests thoroughly. At the same time, focusing on participating in chains linked to enterprises to produce clean and high quality products, which can be exported to fastidious markets, raising BR-VT pepper value.
