In the current trend, the fact that farmers “sell what they have” rather than “sell what the market needs” has brought about dramatic failures and pepper is no exception. After the current “tsunami”, the functional agencies said that this is an opportunity to change people's agriculture perspective, reconstruct the pepper industry to develop in a stable orbit. , lasting.
>> Term 1: Following the fever … “black gold”
>> Part 2: Khuynh gia, failure because … pepper
Market view
According to the evaluation of Vietnam Pepper Association, in previous years, Vietnamese pepper “stormed and made wind” in the market and led the world in production. However, at present, this “wind” has been reversed by more than two years ago, many countries such as Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia … become direct competitors with Vietnam in the pepper industry. output and quality.
Foreign customers check the production process, sign a commitment to cooperate in the consumption of clean and organic pepper products of the Cooperative of Dong Tam Tieu Cooperative in Dak Song.
For example, Brazil, in recent years, pepper has not only increased rapidly in area but also followed the pepper cultivation process in the direction of ensuring safety for consumers' health. Recently, the Brazilian Government has applied policies to lend to farmers with interest rates of only 2.8-3% / year, applied from the 3rd year and above, thus encouraging people to strongly develop pepper areas. .
In addition to fertile soil with high productivity, Brazil mainly uses modern machinery, so production costs also sharply decrease compared to Vietnam. Therefore, Brazilian pepper has been offered to the world market at a price much lower than Vietnam. Not only is the price low, but Brazil's quality of pepper is launched in the world market with 80% of the products meeting the clean standard. In particular, many pepper areas have a pesticide residue of zero. Therefore, Brazilian pepper has captured many potential markets of the world such as the US, Netherlands, France, Mexico, Marocco …
In Malaysia, the country is also building a national pepper brand. Accordingly, at export ports, Malaysia built a quality control system right at the customs clearance site by testing samples of pre-export shipments to ensure clean standards before exporting to the international market. Therefore, Malaysian pepper is definitely priced higher than Vietnamese pepper, they are now the leading partner of Japan.
According to the Vietnam Pepper Association, the supply of pepper all over the world has far exceeded demand. It is forecasted that in the coming years, pepper output will continue to increase sharply. Therefore, at present, many pepper producing countries in the world have significant inventories. Therefore, the fact that pepper price goes down reflects the actual situation of the market supply exceeding demand. Currently, most of Vietnam's pepper is exported to foreign markets. Facing fierce competition in production and quality from countries such as Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia … the pepper of Vietnam in general, Dak Nong in particular need to build a brand and find a foothold “enough. reach ”for sustainable development.
Organic pepper is still “very expensive”.
Currently, pepper prices like downhill cars do not brake, less than 50 thousand VND / kg. However, for clean pepper, organic pepper … the price has remained fairly stable from VND 90,000 to VND 250,000 / kg depending on the type.
Dinh Xuan Thu's 18-year-old pepper garden still has high resistance, surpassing the historic “pandemic” on pepper.
The recent “pepper pandemic” has devastated devastated pepper trees in Dak Nong province. However, more than 20 hectares of ecological pepper of Mr. Dinh Xuan Thu, in Nam N’Jang (Dak Song), were not affected. Thu's pepper plants are still growing green. Even the pepper gardens that Mr. Thu planted 18 years ago are old but carefree against the unfavorable weather. The most exciting thing is that each ton of his pepper, Mr. Thu still sells at an extremely high price, an average of VND 200,000 / kg.
According to Thu, the reason why his family's pepper gardens have been healthy for decades is that the family has strictly followed the process of producing organic pepper. Pepper grows naturally in a natural way, without being pushed on productivity and yield. From the beginning, his family's goal was to produce organic pepper (without using plant protection drugs) to ensure human health, to export products to markets such as the Netherlands and the United States. … at a high price.
Mr. Thu excitedly said: “Pepper prices are declining in line with the general trend of the world market. However, my family's organic pepper products have never dropped. On average, each ton of pepper, Mr. Thu produces 300 kg of red pepper (ripe red pepper) at 250 thousand dong / kg) and 700 kg of black pepper at 150,000 dong / kg.
When the majority of pepper farmers in the province were struggling due to a sharp decline in the price of pepper, there were a number of people producing clean, organic pepper in Village 6, Nhan Co Commune (Dak R'lap), still selling pepper at price double the market. Instead of using chemical fertilizers and drugs, farmers only use manure and organic fertilizers, so not only significantly reduce production costs but also higher selling prices. According to Dao Duy Hai, a member of the co-operative group of organic pepper producers in Dak R'lap, the production of organic pepper cannot reach the absolute level of productivity of the current mass production (from 4 – 5 tons / ha) but always maintain a stable level, average of 3-4 tons.
Currently, after completing 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 90,000 VND / kg, 45,000 VND / kg higher than the general market. Despite knowing the clear benefits, to grow clean, organic pepper, farmers must have sufficient awareness, financial resources and stable output. This is the difficulty that makes the area of organic pepper and standardized production pepper still “count on the fingers”.
Develop a clear strategy
Discussing the price of pepper, Mr. Nguyen Duy Tuong, Director of Bach Sinh Co., Ltd., in Gia Nghia town, a unit with many years of experience in exporting pepper, said that when the pepper price pulled back to about VND 50,000 / kg, pepper growers are working for others to make a profit. Because pepper millers have focused on productivity for a long time, not on quality and sticking to market demand, the fact that today's battle is something that has been forecasted earlier. It is the farmers we are creating a cheap product that the international market has the right to pick up, put down, and pay the price. Not only pepper but also other agricultural products, it is regrettable that Vietnam is lacking a deep processing industry to actively support production and markets. The portion of commercial profit we do not have is only in the original crude output.
Talking about export, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Dat, Sales Director of Lien Thanh Joint Stock Company, a large pepper export unit in Binh Duong province, said: “In the current context, there is only pepper production. clean and control food safety issues will help Dak Nong pepper develop sustainably in the long run but cannot “eat away” like the past years. Because the world pepper market is now not only a Vietnamese game but also a global one. Therefore, the production of clean and safe products is a mandatory principle for all products if they want to develop sustainably and participate in demanding markets in the period of international economic integration. The reason for the high price of pepper is high quality organic because the world production of this item accounts for less than 2%. Organic standard pepper products cost 2-6 times higher than market prices but still do not meet market demand.
As one of the pioneering households in changing the view of developing clean agriculture, Mr. Nguyen Van Thang, Director of Dong Tam Agricultural Cooperative said: “In addition to the farmers themselves, the methods are soon changed. production, the State must show the role of “conductor” in planning and developing agriculture in line with the planning. From complying with the plan, farmers need to be able to easily access support policies, encourage capital, science and technology, set up cooperative groups, link production and control. varieties, epidemics, seeking partners to cover products. Thus, the new pepper plant wants to avoid the traces of some crops such as rubber, dragon fruit … ready to enter the period of intensive and deep integration as today.
The whole province has no first-line pepper production facilities, ensuring disease free. Mr. Nguyen Thien Chan, Deputy Director of Agricultural Development Sub-Department stated that: Dak Nong province has a pepper area of the top of the country. However, in recent years, people in Dak Nong province mainly develop pepper plants in the form of strong everyone, and the authorities are still on the sidelines without specific solutions. First of all, for the situation of pepper when infected, mass death is a story that has been repeated for many years. In terms of science, pepper trees are cloned, cutting branches, cuttings … will make the disease easily spread from mother to child, from garden to garden. However, at present, all people in the province still produce the same way or buy it in many localities inside and outside the province to use. Therefore, the disease spread on pepper in Dak Nong province is very difficult to control. It can be asserted that the difficulties for pepper watchers start right from the breeding stage. However, in all of Dak Nong province, there is not any establishment that produces first-class pepper, ensuring disease free.
Another issue of great concern is that the “fast death – slow death” disease caused by fungi and nematodes is a challenge that has not yet been solved by authorities and researchers. In order to rescue pepper plants at risk of infection on pepper plants, from now on, there are scientific research institutes, specialized agencies … it is necessary to study and produce pepper varieties suitable to them. soil, climate and soil of Dak Nong province. In the face of the fact that pepper is infected and died on a large scale, local authorities need to review and make detailed plans for pepper growing areas, so that people can know and bring this major crop back. about its trajectory.
