Entering the pepper harvest in 2023, pepper growers in the province continue to face many difficulties when the selling price is low, while the shortage of workers and high rents still occur, making the harvest difficult. encountered many difficulties.
Low pepper prices
After the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit, pepper growers in Chau Duc district entered the peak of the harvest season. However, this year, output and prices are not very positive. Currently, the price of pepper has dropped to a low level, only from 58-59 thousand VND/kg, while the labor force hired to harvest is scarce, so the rental price is from 280-300 thousand VND/person/day, making income Insufficient labor costs.
Ms. Le Thi Hoan (Suoi Lup hamlet, Binh Ba commune, Chau Duc district) who is cultivating 1.3ha of pepper said that from the 7th day of the Lunar New Year, her family had to mobilize all relatives to harvest in time because ripe pepper. “Besides early ripening, this year the pepper crop failed, the output was just over 1 ton; The selling price is also at a low level, only 58-59 thousand VND/kg, this crop has a loss of more than 10 million VND/ha”, said Ms. Hoan.
Also in the same situation, the 1.1ha pepper garden of Mr. Le Xuan Lien (who lives in Hamlet 2, Hoa Binh commune, Xuyen Moc district) is ripe and full of roots. To avoid losses, he had to spend money to buy nets to spread throughout the garden to catch the fallen pepper fruit when he could not harvest. Although this year’s output is more stable than last year’s, with lower selling prices and higher investment costs, the profit is not as expected.
Mr. Le Xuan Lien (Hoa Binh commune, Xuyen Moc district) had to go to neighboring provinces to find workers to harvest pepper.
Walking around the pepper gardens in the province shows that, although it is entering the harvest season, the pepper is ripe and red, but there is no longer the bustling scene of harvesting workers as in previous years. Information from pepper growers said that they looked everywhere but still could not find workers to hire to harvest even though the rent increased from 280-300 thousand VND/person/day.
Mr. Le Xuan Lien (Hoa Binh commune) added: “In order to harvest the red pepper garden in time, for many days, I had to run back and forth to find workers to pick pepper from neighboring provinces. However, at this time, it is still the rubber harvest season, so most of the workers have been hired to shave latex before Tet. With these 4 workers picking pepper, it will probably take about a month and a half for my family to finish harvesting.
According to the statistics of the Provincial Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development), the province is cultivating nearly 10,700 hectares of pepper, a decrease of more than 800 hectares compared to the beginning of 2022. In recent years, the agricultural sector has advised farmers to be cautious in planting new crops, but to focus on caring for and restoring pepper areas that are giving stable yields, in order to develop pepper sustainably. .
For old pepper areas with low productivity, farmers should study to convert suitable crops to increase economic efficiency on the same area of land.
According to Hong Phuc (Ba Ria – Vung Tau Newspaper)
