In the past few months, the price of rubber has dropped sharply, while pepper has sold at a high price, so many farmers in the Southeast provinces are willing to saw and cut rubber trees to … as planting pillars. spending, chasing the immediate profit. This “fever” is forecasted to come with many unpredictable risks.
Rubber trees are pruned by farmers as living pillars to grow pepper.
House growing pepper
Coming to the “pepper capital” 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 4,000ha of pepper (concentrated in the communes of Loc An, Loc Thanh, Loc Quang, Loc Hoa and Loc Tan), accounting for 30% of the pepper area of Binh Phuoc province. The fact that the National Office of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology) has just certified the “Loc Ninh pepper collective mark” as stimulating farmers in the district to massively expand their area.
Farmer Nguyen Van Pha (71 years old), a resident of Loc An commune, said that in previous years, when rubber latex was expensive, people in the commune moved a large area of pepper to grow this crop. Over the past year, when the price of pepper spiked, there were many households who directly removed rubber trees, sometimes considered “white gold” to switch to plants with pungent flavors. Although uneven, there are households in the commune that collect billions of dollars from pepper seeds.
As noted, in the expansion of pepper area in Binh Phuoc, the hottest spot 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 also several hundred hectares of newly planted pepper. Only in Nghia Binh commune (Bu Dang district), from the beginning of 2014 until now, people have cut down over 100ha of crops that are being harvested to grow pepper.
Binh Phuoc Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that up to now, the whole province has about 12,000 hectares of pepper, planted mainly 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 is 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 earns a profit of 300-400 million VND/kg. many times more profitable than cashew and rubber trees.
In neighboring localities, Binh Duong province has been quite attached to rubber trees for a long time, now people and families cut down rubber and rush to grow pepper. On the inter-district road in Dinh Hiep commune (Dau Tieng district), we couldn’t help but be surprised when we saw a few households here cut across the nearly 10-year-old rubber plantations, leaving about 3m of tree trunks to grow. make a pillar. Throughout the districts of Dau Tieng, Phu Giao, Bac Tan Uyen…, pepper poles alternately stretched themselves over the newly poured rubber areas.
Many rubber areas in Binh Duong province have been converted to pepper cultivation.
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 climatic and soil conditions of Binh Duong; yield is much lower than other parts of the country. Growing pepper trees in Binh Duong has always been a spontaneous movement, not according to any planning or orientation of the State management agencies. Currently, farmers in the province run after the market, cutting down rubber trees to grow pepper is not advisable. This can easily lead to unpredictable consequences later.
“Overcoming difficulties” initiative
Lately, the price of rubber has dropped sharply, causing many smallholder rubber growers to face difficulties. To overcome this situation, instead of cutting down rubber gardens like in Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong, Dak Nong… many rubber growers in Ba Ria – Vung Tau have chosen the solution of intercropping with pepper and trees. rubber as a pillar. Choosing this solution, farmers in Ba Ria – Vung Tau hope to keep the rubber garden, waiting for the time when the price of rubber will increase again.
Mr. Le Kiem’s family, in Hamlet 3, Hoa Hoi Commune (Xuyen Moc District), has more than 1ha of rubber smallholder plantations that are being harvested. When the price of rubber latex fell to less than 40 million VND/ton as it is today, he had an “initiative” to plant pepper under the rubber tree. Seeing that pepper was growing well, he prune the rubber tree, the trunk was still alive, he used it as a pillar for the pepper tree. Currently, with this model, in Phuoc Thuan commune, Hoa Hoi commune, there are nearly 100ha of rubber trees cut down by farmers to make living pillars for climbing pepper trees. Through the survey, the pepper gardens are well developed, the straight stems help the pepper stick well…
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