Mr. Nguyen Van Nam (Thuan Binh village, Thuan Hanh commune, Dak Song, Dak Nong) said that his family is hiring workers to harvest a pepper garden of more than 1.5 hectares, planted with coffee.
In about 10 days, his family will finish harvesting, with an estimated output of about 2 tons, down more than 30% compared to last year. According to Mr. Nam, pepper productivity has decreased due to erratic weather, causing the plants to bloom many times. Not to mention, in December 2022, pepper plants preparing for harvest encountered a “storm during the dry season”, causing a lot of fruit to fall.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai Yen’s family picks ripe pepper clusters in advance
“Many pepper pillars have mixed old and young fruit, making it very difficult to harvest. If you pick all at once, it will be faster but have a lot of zem pepper (young seeds, few kernels), which will reduce the weight and lower the price; Picking also ensures quality, but it takes a lot of labor and takes a long time to harvest. Therefore, I had to let the pepper ripen a little longer and accept picking up the fallen pepper,” Mr. Nam shared.
As for Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai Yen (village 15, Ea Ktur commune, Cu Kuin district, Dak Lak) who has a 1-hectare pepper garden, she said that her family had just organized the picking of ripe pepper clusters. If you don’t pick them, if you leave them for a long time, they will fall to the root, and having to pick them up will be even more difficult.
“It’s the dry season but there are often off-season rains, leading to irregular fruit production in the garden. This makes it difficult for my family to care for and fertilize. Not to mention, the price of materials, fertilizers, and pesticides to care for pepper plants has increased sharply. Last season, I spent about 30 million VND buying fertilizer and plant protection; In this case, the amount has nearly doubled,” Ms. Yen informed.
Ms. Yen added that this is the second consecutive year the pepper crop has failed. Last year, her pepper produced many clusters but few seeds. The reason is also due to erratic rainy and sunny weather. According to Ms. Yen, according to the law, every rainy season must have rain for pepper to bloom and bear fruit. Farmers’ irrigation is only secondary. If there is no rainwater or irregular rain, the crop is considered a failure.
Mr. Hoang Phuoc Binh, Permanent Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Chu Sue Pepper Association (Gia Lai), said that not only Dak Lak and Dak Nong but this whole province also suffers from crop failure and falling prices.
Mr. Binh explained that normally after harvest, pepper plants need 40-50 days to differentiate flower buds. This is the stage when pepper “squeezes water”, the plant will dry out and wither; Waiting for the rainy season to come, it will bloom simultaneously, bear fruit evenly, and achieve productivity. However, in reality last year, the weather in the Central Highlands became complicated, the rain and sun did not follow the rules, causing pepper to “struggle” as well.
Regarding the pepper market this year, Mr. Binh assessed that the beginning of the season was quite quiet, prices also decreased by 1/3 compared to the same period last year. According to Mr. Binh, pepper is fluctuating around 60,000 VND/kg, while at this time in 2022, pepper prices are above 90,000 VND/kg.
This person said that the Vietnamese pepper market is greatly affected by the consumption markets of European countries, America, China… Along with the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, banks tightening credit. increased interest rates make it difficult for businesses to access capital.
However, Mr. Binh expressed optimism that the pepper market will have good signals because this year’s output is expected to decrease compared to last year because many localities have lost crops, and the “black gold” area has also shrunk very much. much more than before.
Source link
