Rising pepper prices this year have created a “chain effect” that makes a part of people rushing to cut down coffee trees to grow pepper. Accordingly, dozens of farmers in Bau Can commune (Chu Prong district, Gia Lai), are expanding the cutting of coffee area to plant new pepper trees on a large scale.
Coffee lost the throne
With only less than 5 km of road in Ia Mua village, Bau Can commune (Chu Prong district), many coffee gardens have been cleared, instead of vacant land being cleaned by people to prepare. planted pepper trees.
In the coffee garden that has been destroyed nearly half of the area, Mr. Tran Dinh Than (Ia Mua village) – a farmer who has been living with coffee for nearly 40 years, said: “This crop, my family has harvested four tons of coffee, sold for 40 million / ton, except for the investment cost, there is not much. So hard, but the price is precarious. I plan to destroy coffee gradually to grow pepper ”.
Not only Mr. Than's family but most of the farmers in Bau Can commune also destroyed coffee trees to grow pepper. On average, each household breaks down 200 to 500 coffee trees in its area. It is estimated that if they remove 200 coffee trees, they will replace 100 pepper posts.
It is observed that the area of coffee being destroyed is not because it is old, after the exploitation cycle, but because pepper cultivation will bring higher profits than coffee trees.
Nguyen Quan, from Ia Mua village, said: “The reason we are destroying coffee on a small scale is because we do not have enough funding to invest in planting new pepper. If we have enough capital, we will do it on a large scale. ”
In fact, people no longer have as much faith in coffee as they used to, they are hoping for a replacement of pepper in the future.
Pepper is replicated
Up to now, the price of pepper in Gia Lai has reached 110,000 VND / kg. This is considered a quite strong increase. Vietnam Pepper Association predicts that the price of pepper may reach VND 120,000-130,000 / kg. The sudden increase in pepper prices has helped many Gia Lai pepper farmers to be excited. “The heat” of this tree is spreading strongly in Bau Can commune, making many farmers not hesitate to destroy coffee to grow pepper.
Mrs. Thi Thi Hoi's pepper garden (Bau Can commune) has 100 pillars this year, harvesting nearly 3 quintals. If calculating with the current pepper price, her pepper garden has earned more than 30 million dong. According to her, pepper is easier to make, easier to harvest and easier to preserve than coffee. Currently, her family is also planting more pepper on the area of coffee that has been destroyed.
Like Mrs. Hoi's family, the farmer Tran Van Phuc is also urgently destroying fruit trees such as jackfruit, avocado and a large area of coffee to replicate pepper. Phuc said: “If I knew the price of pepper would increase today, I would have destroyed all coffee to grow pepper a few years ago.”
Despite the scarcity of arable land, farmers rushed to expand the area of pepper on a large scale. It is estimated that if planting 1 ha of pepper, it takes VND 300 million of capital. This is a difficult problem for people in scaling up pepper.
The new area of growing pepper is growing, pepper trees are gradually asserting its standing. However, the solution to convert crops from coffee to pepper is also a big challenge for farmers.
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