While pepper prices in Dak Nong market continuously “plummeted” and reached 50,000 – 54,000 VND / kg, households that produce organic pepper still sold mangrove for a price of 100 – 130,000 VND / kg. This is a useful lesson for pepper farmers in the province to change their thinking and ways of doing things for a long time.
In recent years, when pepper prices reached a high level, people massively expanded the area, despite the recommendations of the Agriculture sector and local authorities. The large area but the ability to invest in farming techniques are uneven among households, regions and ethnic groups, causing difficulties for the process of raising the value of the Dak Nong pepper industry.
Loss of production due to the movement
In this year's pepper harvest, visiting areas with large pepper areas in the province, witnessing a sad harvest to see the suffering of farmers. Especially those farmers who only grow monoculture of pepper and those who borrow money from banks to invest and expand pepper area.
In previous years, Mr. Tran Van Quoc from Nam N’Jang commune (Dak Song) had 4 hectares of pepper. Recalling those years, Mr. Quoc said: At the time of pepper crop, the price, his family every crop minus all costs also earned over 1.5 billion.
After a few years of growing pepper, Mr. Quoc has deposited more than VND 12 billion in the bank. In the following years, the price of pepper continued to stabilize at a high level, seeing many people in the region massively expand the area, Mr. Quoc also impatiently followed. With the money saved in the bank, he did not hesitate to withdraw it to buy land. At first, he bought the land near his house, then he bought it to neighboring communes such as Truong Xuan, Dak Rung, and Daklol … when he heard about any land sale, he came to “buy money” to buy it.
Talking about the day he was fascinated by the pepper, Mr. Quoc bitterly explained: “I poured most of the money I saved to buy the land, when spending” fever “for every hectare of normal land could not grow anything but then people we sell for 200 – 300 million dong You don't have to buy land. Want to invest in a complete pepper garden, each hectare must spend approximately 400-500 million VND. “
However, with more than 10 hectares of new pepper land of Mr. Quoc, only 3-4 hectares for fortune-telling, the rest are newly planted. It is worth mentioning that after spending all VND 12 billion on pepper cultivation, Mr. Quoc now owes the bank VND 4 billion. With a situation like this, he did not know how many years he could repay the debt.
Like Mr. Quoc, Ms. Truong Thi Nhan's family in Dak N’drung commune also fell into debt due to chasing pepper.
Once upon a time like “black gold”, until now, pepper suddenly dropped dramatically, making many people want to leave the garden. Because, with 54,000 VND / kg, the good pepper gardens are harvested evenly, while the pepper gardens fail to harvest, hard to harvest, the harvest can not pay for labor. Those are households who just pay rent to pickers and compare with bank loans for investment is considered incapable.
Stable income from organic pepper
Organic pepper production has been gradually studied and applied by Mr. Dao Duy Hai, Director of Dong Thuan Organic Pepper Cooperative …
While the majority of pepper growers in the province struggled due to a sharp decline in pepper prices, there were a number of members of Dong Thuan Organic Pepper Cooperative standing in hamlet 6, Nhan Co commune (Dak R). 'fill up' thanks to the organic production of pepper, the price of pepper is still doubled at this time. Because, instead of using feces and chemical drugs, people only use manure and organic fertilizer, so not only significantly reduce production costs but also higher selling prices.
According to Mr. Dao Duy Hai, Director of Dong Thuan Organic Pepper Cooperative, the production of organic pepper cannot reach the absolute yield as before (from 8-12 tons / ha). But in return, the orchards are less infected with disease, the productivity is always stable, averagely reaches from 3 to 4 tons, good care is 5 tons or more. Currently, after the completion of the post-harvest stages such as drying, drying, packaging to ensure food hygiene and safety, the pepper products of cooperatives are purchased by associated companies for 130,000 VND / kg, 76,000 VND / kg higher than the general price.
Mr. Hai said: “Dong Thuan cooperative has experienced 8 years of producing pepper towards organic. For many years, we do not abuse chemical fertilizers and pesticides to take care of pepper gardens but mainly use products of organic origin such as: cow dung, fish manure compost, antifungal medicine learn…”. Therefore, currently over 20 hectares of pepper of the cooperative are compliant with the production process and strictly monitored.
Linking organic pepper production has brought high efficiency to the Dong Thuan Organic Pepper Cooperative …
With the direction of not following the quantity and productivity but focusing on quality, good agricultural practices and environment friendliness, pepper products of Dong Thuan Cooperative are highly appreciated in the EU market. Japan…
Solutions for sustainable pepper development
Pepper is an economically viable crop, suitable for local natural conditions, however, it requires producers with experience and technology. According to the orientation to 2020, Dak Nong province will stabilize an area of nearly 10,000 hectares of pepper with an output of nearly 19,000 tons / year, but in 2017, in fact, the area of pepper cultivation in the province has reached over 31,000 hectares. 37,000 tons has broken the overall orientation of the province.
Facing that fact, Dak Nong is implementing many solutions to develop the pepper industry sustainably. In particular, special attention should be paid to reviewing and managing the planning of pepper production areas in association with hi-tech application agriculture. carry out production of biological and organic pepper in combination with intensive processing to improve quality and increase product value …
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