In recent months, rubber prices have fallen sharply, while pepper has sold at high prices, so many farmers in the Southeastern provinces are willing to saw, cut rubber trees to make pillars for planting. spend, chasing immediate profit. This “fever” is predicted to be accompanied by unpredictable risks.
Rubber trees are pruned by farmers as living pillars to grow pepper.
House growing pepper
Coming to the “capital of pepper” in Loc Ninh (Binh Phuoc province) in the last days of this year, almost every farmer discussed the story of growing pepper to get rich. Loc Ninh district currently has about 4,000 ha of pepper (concentrated in Loc An, Loc Thanh, Loc Quang, Loc Hoa and Loc Tan communes), accounting for 30% of the pepper area of the whole Binh Phuoc province. The Intellectual Property Department (Ministry of Science and Technology) has just certified “Loc Ninh pepper collective trademark” as stimulating farmers in the district to expand massively.
Farmer Nguyen Van Pha (71 years old), a resident of Loc An commune, said that in the previous years, when rubber latex had high prices, people in the commune transferred many areas of pepper to plant this crop. Over the past year, when the price of pepper increased sharply, many households removed rubber trees, sometimes considered “white gold” to switch to planting a tree with a pungent taste. Although uneven, some households in the commune collect billions from pepper seeds.
As noted, in the expansion of pepper area in Binh Phuoc, the hottest point is Bu Gia Map district. From the end of 2013 to the end of 2014, people planted thousands of hectares of new pepper.
In Bu Dang district, there are several hundred hectares of new pepper plantations. Nghia Binh commune alone (Bu Dang district), from the beginning of 2014 until now, people have cut down over 100ha of crops being harvested, to grow pepper.
Binh Phuoc Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that, so far, the whole province has about 12,000 hectares of pepper, grown concentrated in the districts of Loc Ninh, Bu Dop, Hon Quan and Bu Gia Map, most of which are being harvested. At this time, the pepper price remained stable at nearly 200,000 VND / kg, an increase of over 60,000 VND / kg compared to 2013. At this price, each hectare of pepper has earned a profit of 300 – 400 million VND / year, many times higher than cashew, rubber trees.
In nearby localities, Binh Duong province has been quite attached to rubber trees for a long time, now people and households cut down rubber trees and plant pepper trees. On the inter-district road in Dinh Hiep commune (Dau Tieng district), we were not surprised to see some households here cutting rubber trees nearly 10 years old, leaving about 3m of trunks to as a post. Throughout the districts of Dau Tieng, Phu Giao, Bac Tan Uyen …, pepper posts alternate with each other on the rubber areas that have just fallen.
Many rubber areas in Binh Duong province have been converted to pepper.
Mr. Bui Quang Chanh, Head of Agriculture Department – Binh Duong Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that in the provincial agricultural development planning, pepper is not a priority crop. Because according to research, this tree is not suitable for the climate and soil conditions of Binh Duong; for a much lower productivity than elsewhere in the country. Growing pepper trees in Binh Duong has been a spontaneous movement in the style of the movement, not according to the planning or orientation of the State management agencies. Currently, farmers in the province follow the market, cutting down rubber trees to grow pepper is not recommended. This is easy to bring unpredictable consequences later.
The “overcoming” initiative
Last time, the price of rubber decreased sharply, causing many households planting smallholder rubber. To overcome this situation, instead of clearing all rubber gardens like in Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong, Dak Nong … many rubber planting households in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province have chosen the solution of intercropping pepper trees and taking trees. rubber as a pole. Choosing this solution, farmers in Ba Ria – Vung Tau hope to retain rubber gardens, waiting for the time when rubber price will increase again.
Mr. Le Kiem's family, in hamlet 3, Hoa Hoi commune (Xuyen Moc district), has more than 1 ha of small-scale rubber trees being harvested. When the price of rubber is below 40 million VND / ton as currently, he has an “initiative” to grow pepper under rubber trees. Seeing the development of pepper, he pruned rubber tree branches, the trunk was still alive he took advantage of as a pillar for the pepper tree. Currently, with this model, in Phuoc Thuan commune, Hoa Hoi commune, nearly 100ha of rubber have been pruned by people to make a living pillar for climbing pepper trees. Through the survey, all pepper gardens have developed well, straight trunks help pepper stick well…
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