Top 5 Black Pepper Producers In Vietnam
Table of Contents
Vietnam is the largest pepper producer and exporter in the world. But do you know the fact that Vietnamese pepper production and expansion have just started for just about 20 years? Have you wondered why Vietnam always stands out from the other countries? Let’s find out the answers by learning the top 5 black pepper producers in Vietnam …
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5, Quang Tri
Ranked 5th among the biggest black pepper producers in Vietnam
Natural condition
The dry season in Quang Tri lasts from April to September and is influenced by southwest winds. The air temperature is up to 39-400 C. Prolonged droughts cause a severe water shortage.
The rainy season is from September to November. Due to the influence of the North East monsoon, it usually rains in February. The rainy season here is influenced by big storms in the Central Coast.
When it happens, the air temperature decreases, thus affecting the growth and development of plants; which is the characteristic of Quang Tri in the delta districts.
In Huong Hoa district, climate conditions are more moderate as it is dominated by the Western Truong Son climate.
Here, the rainy season comes earlier, the rain lasts from late April to November; with the average air temperature in this area ranging from 18.2 to 25.60 C, and the maximum temperature of 35.70 C.
However, the period of such high temperature does not last long in some other pepper growing regions in Quang Tri such as Cam Lo, Vinh Linh or Gio Linh.
The lowest temperature is not less than 120 C in some days of January, February, March. However, it does not last long so the climate weather is quite favorable for some industrial crops such as coffee, pepper, rubber.
Pepper cultivation in Quang Tri is mainly grown on red, yellow or yellowish basalt soil.
Some communes in Vinh Linh, Cam Lo, and Gio Linh cultivate pepper on agar and sloping land. Pepper cultivation land of these districts is mainly planted in the hills, so the district has a large area of hills, has a higher percentage of pepper production area than other districts.
Pepper cultivation land of these districts is mainly planted in the hills. Therefore, the district has a large area of hills, has a higher percentage of pepper production area than other districts.
The rate of pepper cultivation area to natural land ranges from 2.56 to 14.0%. Cam Lo District (922 ha) is the largest area, accounting for 14% of the natural land.
In Huong Hoa district, although the area of hills, natural land, and agricultural land is larger than that of Cam Lo district, the area of pepper cultivation is not large because most of the land is forest land; and agricultural land just occupies 10% of the natural land.
On the other hand, pepper cultivation practice has not become traditional in Huong Hoa as elsewhere,
In addition, the proportion of ethnic minorities is quite large; and they are not familiar with the cultivation of perennial industrial crops.
The area of pepper cultivation in Huong Hoa is mainly grown by Kinh – the ethnic majority of Vietnam
Social and economic conditions
Quang Tri is one of the provinces in the Central Coast of Vietnam with an area of 4,745 square kilometers; with a population of about 616,600 and a population density of 130 persons per km2.
In 2004, the population in rural areas is 466,000; which is one of the advantages to meet the labor demand of the province in general as well as the development of agriculture in particular.
Agricultural production
Quang Tri has a total land area of 474,600ha including agricultural land, forestry land, specialized land and residential land.
In the four land categories mentioned above, the land used for forestry accounts for the highest proportion; reaching 33.7% (160.300ha) followed by 73.800ha for agricultural production, accounting for 15.5% of the total land area.
The land area for agricultural production is relatively high, but the average area of the family-owned farm is low, with about 0.57 ha/household.
For Quang Tri farmers, apart from the practice of planting short-term crops such as rice, maize, sweet potato, and cassava; perennial crops have also been planted by farmers, such as coffee, tea, rubber, and lakes. pepper, mulberry, and tobacco.
Pepper production
The pepper production area of Quang Tri in 2001 was 2,025ha, and there were gradually new pepper trees planted annually.
However, the growth of the production area was not large, only about 100-200 ha/year. The increased pepper production areas are mainly located in key districts such as Vinh Linh, Gio Linh and Cam Lo, and other districts with no significant annual expansion.
The production area in 2004 was 2,484ha and almost remained stable.
In the districts where pepper is grown in Quang Tri, Cam Lo district is one of the districts with the largest area of pepper farm, accounting for 14.1% of agricultural land.
The average area of pepper cultivation in Quang Tri is about 0.3 ha/household. The difference in household-owned pepper farm size is quite large.
The pepper production farms were ready for harvest in this period ranged from 1,000 to 1,500ha mainly in Vinh Linh, Gio Linh, and Cam Lo districts.
On the one hand, due to limited land fund for pepper and a sharp drop in pepper price in recent years the pepper cultivation was just in moderate development.
The productivity of Quang Tri pepper was lower than the productivity in the South East and the Central Highlands, reaching only 10.3 quintals per hectare in 2000.
In recent years, the pepper productivity in Quang Tri has risen up to 13,4 and13.8 quintals per hectare in 2003 and 2004.
Due to an insignificant increase in the area of pepper production in recent years; pepper farmers have the opportunity to invest more heavily in the available pepper gardens.
Although the area of pepper cultivation decreased; thanks to the increase in pepper production, the output of pepper in 2004 increased 2 times compared with 2000 and 2001.
4, Ba Ria-Vung Tau
Ranked 4th among the biggest black pepper producers in Vietnam
Natural condition
Ba Ria-Vung Tau is located in the sub-equatorial tropical climate. Ba Ria- Vung Tay has the effect of monsoon, and high radiation(average 390-520 cal / cm2 / day)
Ba Ria – Vung Tau has high temperature all year round. The average is 27.480C, the lowest in January (25.70 C) and the highest in April (28.90 C).
The sunshine is 2,377 hours per year in which the dry season has 193.2-271.5 hours/month, less storm and fog. These are favorable factors for the growth and development of pepper.
The dominant factor of climate for pepper production is rain and rainfall distribution.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau has an average rainfall of 1.933mm, increasing from the south to the north. The rainy season has high rainfall, while the long-lasting dry season significantly affects the growth of the trees as well as the cost of irrigation and drainage.
The rainy season in Ba Ria-Vung Tau has high rainfall
The long-lasting dry season significantly affects the growth of the trees as well as the cost of irrigation and drainage.
In general, the weather conditions are favorable for the development of pepper.
The total natural area of Ba Ria-Vung Tau is 197,537 ha, with 9 main soil groups; including red soil of basalt and yellow soil accounting for 40.8%, gray soil 14.3% and sandy soil 10.2%, the rest are other land groups.
The diversity of land allows for the development of a wide variety of crops; especially of economically valuable industrial crops.
Social and economic conditions
Ba Ria-Vung Tau is a key economic region in the Southeast of the southern Vietnam.
Ba Ria – Vung Tau population in 2003 was 885,166; with an average population density of 448 people / km2.
The population of the rural area is over 108,350 households with the population of 525,991 people; accounting for 57.33% of the population in Ba Ria – Vung Tau.
This is a good resource for developing perennial crops.
Total GDP of 2003 in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province reached 62,000 billion Vietnamese dongs; increasing by 24.74% compared to 2002 and paying 41,000 billion Vietnamese dongs to the state budget.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau is a province with potential and strength from oil and gas exploitation, tourism, fishing and seafood processing.
The development of perennial crops has contributed to the supply of raw materials for industrialization and modernization of rural agriculture, agricultural economic restructuring and employment improvement in rural areas.
Agricultural production
Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province has a total natural area of 198,200 ha. Land for agricultural and forestry production is 89,188 ha (accounting for 44.9% of land area), of which 63,934 ha of red soil (32.36 ha) %) has many advantages and great potential for growing perennial crops.
Like other provinces in the South East; the main crops are mainly grown in Ba Ria-Vung Tau such as pepper, cashew, rubber, coffee and fruit trees.
In the above crops, pepper represents 12% of the total land area.
Pepper production
Most of the districts in the province have pepper cultivation (Con Dao district only has small area). However, pepper farms are mainly grown in some districts such as Chau Duc (5,330.5ha), Xuyen Moc (1,244.7ha), Tan Thanh (366.5ha), and Ba Ria Town (263.5ha).
These local lands have red basalt, suitable for pepper growing. The remaining districts have a negligible pepper area.
Total pepper production in the province in 2003 reached 9,911 tons; mainly from the large pepper areas.
The new growing pepper farms had the highest growth in Chau Duc (1,192.3 ha). The pepper area was largely destroyed in Xuyen Moc (188ha) due to the rapid spread of Phytophthora in a few years ago.
Some pepper plantations were affected adversely which forced to cancel and switch to cashew farms.
Since 2001, the production area of pepper has tended to decrease from 8,413ha to 7,246 ha in 2003.
The reason for the decrease is the low pepper price, which does not stimulate new growers, and some areas have shifted to other crops.
3, Phu Quoc
Ranked 3rd among the biggest black pepper producers in Vietnam
Natural condition
– Average annual rainfall is 2,950mm, mainly from May to October, with 81.5% of total annual rainfall.
– The annual evaporation (measured Piche) is 1,165mm, the highest in December and the lowest in October.
– The average annual humidity is 82%, humidity is high since May and starts decreasing from October, the highest humidity month is September.
– The total number of sunshine hours is 2,302 hours, mainly from January to April, with the highest number of sunshine hours in March.
– The average annual temperature is 27.3oC, the highest temperature is 34.5oC in March and April, the lowest temperature is 19.1oC in January.
Phu Quoc is an archipelago located in the southwest of the western part of Vietnam; with geographic coordinates of 103.8-104.1 East and 10-10.4 North.
Phu Quoc island is triangular, broad in the north and narrow in the south. The island has a total natural land area of 59,305ha in which agricultural land is 7,761ha.
Pepper cultivation land in Phu Quoc is largely reclaimed from hills and mountains; including gray soil on acid magma stone, sandstone, gray soil with reddish patches of yellow and yellowish soil on sandstone.
Phu Quoc soil has poor nutrients with a high proportion of sands, organic content ranging from 1.0-1.4%, acid soil, pHKCl 5.1, total N of 0.08-0, P of 0.03-0.04 and K of 0.02-0.09 (Southern Institute of Agricultural Planning, 1999).
Social and economic conditions
The district has positive changes in many economic sectors.
However, for the agricultural and fishery sectors, the two strengths of the district have declined; especially in the agricultural sector.
With the results of many regular surveys and other surveys combined with information collected from agencies and mass organizations; the Statistical Office estimated that GDP would increase by 8.99% in 2004. However, the plan was not achieved due to many reasons, of which the fishery sector, the key economic sector decreased by 3.61% in which agriculture and forestry decreased by 5.8%.
Pepper production
Pepper is the main crop of the island district. Phu Quoc pepper products have been famous in the country and abroad for a long time.
Like other pepper growers, the agricultural sector is facing many difficulties due to the continuous decline in pepper prices in recent years, forcing farmers to sell their land to pay for bank loans.
In Phu Quoc, pepper trees are grown in three communes: Cua Duong, Cua Can and Duong To.
In 2001, the total pepper production area of the district was 775ha, producing 1,690 tons.
In 2004, the production area decreased by 245ha to 530ha with the output of 1,364 tons (Phu Quoc Statistical Office, 2004).
According to preliminary results from the recent survey of pepper, the production area of pepper fell the most in Cua Can by 90,1ha, in Cua Duong by 90 ha and in Duong To by 48,6ha.
Due to the reduced production area, only about 24 hectares of new pepper cultivation have been harvested since 2003, most of the remaining pepper trees have been harvested with an average productivity of about 2.7 tons / ha, lower than the average productivity of over 3.0 tons/ha in 2001-2002, mainly due to the reduced investment and care.
2, Binh Phuoc
Ranked 2nd among the biggest black pepper producers in Vietnam
Natural condition
Binh Phuoc has a total natural land area of 685,700ha, of which agricultural land occupies 305,604ha, followed by land for forestry and other lands.
According to Vu Cao Thai and Pham Quang Khanh (1994), Binh Phuoc has all kinds of lands available in Vietnam, including mountainous land such as red, black and gray soil to plain soil such as alluvial soil, sandy soil.
The red soil occupies the majority in the above lands; the gray soil is more fertile. Various characteristics of the land have created the organic fresh fruit and vegetable production areas in Binh Phuoc
Binh Phuoc Province is affected by monsoon climate:
– Average annual rainfall is 2,667 mm, from May to October (77.9% of total annual rainfall).
– Annual evaporation of 825mm, highest in February and lowest in September.
– The average annual humidity is 81.7%, humidity is higher from April and starts decreasing from November, the highest humidity month is September.
– The total number of sunshine hours is 2,309 hours, focusing on January to May, with the highest number of sunshine hours in April.
– The average annual temperature is 26.oC with the high temperature in April, the lowest temperature in December.
Social and economic conditions
Binh Phuoc is one of the provinces in the South East region with a population of 783,600 people and a population density of 114 people per square kilometer.
In 2004, the rural population was 664,500 people, accounting for 84.8% of the provincial population.
In 2004, total production in the province reached about 2,200 billion Vietnamese dongs, of which agriculture and forestry accounted for 58.4%, followed by industry-construction and services.
Agricultural production
Like other provinces in the Southeast of Vietnam, Binh Phuoc has a large area of agricultural land compared to other types of land (305,604 ha). Moreover, Binh Phuoc has all kinds of lands in South East.
This is one of the favorable natural conditions which is good for the development of agriculture in general as well as the development of long-term industrial crops in particular.
The average household agriculture area is from 1 to 2 ha, but some people own up to 100ha.
Binh Phuoc is one of the provinces having the high land terrain with fewer floods in the rainy season so long-term industrial crops are very suitably planted.
Long-term crops in the province include cashews, pepper, coffee, and fruit such as durian, mango, longan, and citrus.
Pepper production
In 2003, pepper production area of the province reached about 14,195ha in which the available harvested pepper farms were 8,350ha, and the output reached to 19,010 tons.
By 2004, the pepper production area decreased by 4.4% (13,571ha), due to the low price of pepper in recent years and the high price of materials and labor.
In addition, pests and diseases were a cause of reducing the pepper area of the province.
Although the total production area decreased, harvested pepper area increased by 19.6% (10,389ha) in 2004 due to new pepper plantations in the period of 1997-2002, which increased the output by 23.7% (24,933 tons) compared with 2003.
In Binh Phuoc, pepper cultivation area is located mainly in Loc Ninh (3,758ha), Binh Long (3,519ha) and Bu Dop (1,149ha). The remaining regions also plant pepper trees but with a small amount of output. (Binh Phuoc Statistical Office, 2005).
Average household pepper cultivation is about 0.5-1.0ha. However, there are many households who have pepper 2-3hectares pepper farms and some households have several dozen hectares.
1, Central Highlands
Ranked 1st among the biggest black pepper producers in Vietnam
Natural condition
Tay Nguyen has tropical monsoon climate divided into two distinct seasons, rainy season and dry season.
The Rainy season begins in May and lasts until October. The dry season is from November to April next year.
Annual rainfall is 1800mm mainly distributed in the rainy season. The dry season lasts 5-6 months, so active irrigation water is very necessary to expand agricultural production.
The heat and humidity in Central Highland are generally suitable for a variety of crops. Therefore, it is an ideal place to grow pepper trees effectively and sustainably.
High variation in the temperature of the day and night is a favorable condition for the accumulation of aromatic substances in some agricultural products.
In the Central Highlands, sloping hills occupy more than 85%. The surface is clear, less fragmented, convenient for running agriculture business.
The main crops in the Central Highlands are rubber, coffee, pepper, and cashew. There are also fruit trees, hybrid corn, beans, and rice.
There are five mainland groups in the Central Highlands:
– Reddish brown Feralit grows on alkaline and neutral magma, also known as basaltic soil, with a soil layer of more than 1m thick.
Layer A is dark reddish brown or brown, organic content is quite high, the soil weight is mild or medium.
This type of soil is quite fertile, suitable for many industrial crops and fruit trees of high value.
– Yellowish Feralite grows on magma (Fa), which is distributed on lowland, and low terrain.
The topsoil is 50cm long, usually contains gravel. The organic content is quite good, the texture is mild or medium,
It is classified as a sour soil.
– The remaining three groups of land are red-yellow feralit growing on shale or metamorphic rocks, sloping land at river or mountain base and low land.
Most of the pepper trees are grown on flat or lightly slope basalt soil. This is the ideal soil for industrial crops due to its thick, well-drained and fertile soil.
Social and economic conditions
Central Highlands has a total area of 54,473 km2; with a population of 4,674,200 people and a population density of 86 people / km2. Population in rural areas is 3,405,800 people.
According to statistics in 2001, the population of Chu Se is 112,500 people, of which the Kinh ethnic group accounts for 46.5%, and the remaining ethnic groups are Ja Rai, Ba Na, and other ethnic groups.
Kinh people live in towns and centers along National Highway 14, National Highway 25.
Most of Kinh population in Chu Se migrated from the north after the government introduced the new economic policy encouraging people to develop undeveloped lands.
Employment in the local area is mainly based on growing coffee, pepper, rubber; raising livestock; and trading. The standard living is quite high.
Ethnic minority often live far from the centers of town. Therefore, it is hard for them to access the government infrastructure and facility such as education, medical, supermarket. They usually live according to the custom of each community.
The majority of ethnic minority households plant short-term crops such as rice, corn, cassava, cucurbits, and legumes.
Agroforestry is the main economy of Chu Se District, of which farming is an important sector and accounts for a large proportion.
Chu Se has flat terrain, convenient for agricultural production and business.
National highway 14 and national highway 25 runs through Chu Se; which creates convenience for trade exchange with coastal provinces, central and southern provinces.
Main products of Chu Se are coffee, pepper, rubber, food, and fruit. The transportation is very convenient.
The living standard of the people of Chu Se has improved and the per capita income has also increased markedly.
In the 1999-2000 period, the average income per capita has increased by 20.1 USD / year.
The fact is that many local people become wealthier and can generate hundred thousand dollars annually
Yet, another part is still in poor condition, especially ethnic minority households with low income per capita.
The district also has reasonable policies to alleviate inequality gap, paying special attention to improving the lives of ethnic minorities, strengthening the infrastructure for the difficult communes.
Pepper production
Pepper is a plant that creates jobs and provides a major source of income for thousands of people in Chu Se District.
In the Central Highlands, Chu Se District of Gia Lai Province is one of the largest pepper production areas in the region.
In 2003, Chu Se district has 1,825 hectares of pepper farm with a total output of 5,020 tonnes of black pepper.
However, the actual area was much higher. According to estimates by the district economic department, unofficial data on the pepper area was up to 3,000ha in 2005 with 10,000 tons of black pepper.
Pepper is produced in the form of household products with the scale from a few hundred to several thousand pepper trees, with an average of about 1,000-2,000 trees.
Some households have over 10,000 pepper trees. However, they just account for only 1.5% of the total planted pepper in the district.
Because of the high initial investment costs, most of the farmers planted more pepper trees in the following years.
In general, pepper farms in Chu Se are quite young. Pepper farms under five years in Chu Se represent a high percentage of the total pepper production area, especially in some communes such as Nhon Hoa, IaBlang and Chu Se town.
It is evident that pepper production area has expanded rapidly in recent years. Therefore, young pepper farms are expected to generate high productivity in the coming years.
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