Join forces with pepper farmers: [Bài 1] Debt besieged

Thousands of farmer households here are in deep debt and unable to repay their debts.

Many millionaires and billionaires of pepper for a while now became debtors unable to repay their debts; villa, car “hat” to leave. Many are motivated, trying to manage to maintain their lives and to repay their debts, but still seem to be very difficult …

Pepper died, people uprooted and sold.

Flooded in the “sea” of debt

Farmer Pham Hong Son (Thien An hamlet, commune Ia Blu, Chu Puh) has about 6,000 drainage posts. At the time of the highest pepper prices, each year earned billions. Then the pepper garden became ill and died. Pepper is priced, Mr. Son cleaned up the house, borrowed an additional 1.5 billion, rebuilding the garden of more than 5,000 posts. Coming to the day of picking fruits, a terror called “fast death and slow death” struck the capital of pepper, all 5,000 pillars died out.

“Pepper died, my family hugged a half and a half billion debt. Every 3 months must pay 40 million. Do not know what to do to pay off the debt “- Mr. Son said. According to Mr. Son, here, who does not have a red book, can not mortgage the land, the house is not debt. The remaining 90% of the population is a debtor. of the bank, the less then 200 million, the more then the size of 2 billion.

Mrs. Tran Thi Nhan's family (Ia Pal commune, Chu Se commune) mobilized all of its own capital, borrowed more from banks and relatives, planted a few 2,500 head posts. If the harvest year after year is gone, the garden will fall sick and die. Accordingly is the accumulation of debt, interest from the mother and child interest.

“The biggest desire of the people is that the State has a way of freezing the debt, extending the debt to make it easier for our farmers to breathe,” – Ms. Nhan said.

In order to plant a 600-pillar pepper garden, in 2008, Nguyen Thi Linh's family (Ia Blang and Chu Se communes) had to borrow VND 400 million from Sacombank and VND 40 million from Agribank. Now every quarter, she has to pay interest of 12.1 million dong for the two banks mentioned above. The house has only 1.2 hectares of coffee, the year is gone, he has to work outside to get money to pay the bank debt. “Family life is difficult now,” Linh lamented.

Find a way to manage

Pepper died, debt piled up. Many families have to leave the country to work away from home to earn money to pay off their debts. Many children who just went to school yesterday, now have to quit school and stay home to help their parents; There are even wealthy families who rely on pepper, send their children to high schools at international schools in Ho Chi Minh City. Now they are insolvent. They have to call their children back because they don't have money to pay for school fees and other home expenses. school …

The debt is too big, can not be solved two times a day, so many families find ways to earn money to sustain their lives, and the debt is still … hanging over their heads.

Nguyen Thi Linh's family (Ia Blang commune, Chu Se) has just sold 600 sawn timber pillars, but only for … 15,000 VND each, while buying at the price of 80,000 – 140 thousand VND.

Linh said: “My family borrowed nearly VND 500 million from the bank to plant six hundred pepper piles. From the day I died, I sold all my posts to repay the bank. “

Do Van Ken (Ia Blang – Chu Se commune) is different: 4 years ago, when he found out that the pepper garden showed signs of yellowing, he actively reported to the local authorities and professional branches. All measures have been applied, but the gardens are getting worse, there are many pillars dried up and dead.

Looking around, seeing many pepper gardens died but could not cure, Mr. Ke worried very much, he thought of one day having to destroy the entire pepper garden with more than 1,000 pillars of the family.

Immediately, just trying to save the pepper garden, he has intercropped 60 avocado trees in places where pepper posts were completely dead.

Mr. Do Van Nickel planted Thai jackfruit in a pepper garden.

Now the avocado tree is taller than an adult's head, lush and has been harvested. The sale of avocado in the pepper garden is extremely valuable, because it partly solves the debt of his family. Two months ago, he planted an additional 100 grapefruit trees in the pepper garden died, his grapefruit intercropped a few adult hands. “Hopefully, in the future, the orchard replacing the dead pepper garden will be a stable source of income for the family,” said Ken said in the hope.

In this place once known as the “Pepper Kingdom”, those who are quick to switch crops, intercropped with fruit trees in pepper gardens like Mr. Ken is not much. Most of the time when pepper gardens fall sick, unable to repay debts, garden owners have to sell off the gardens, sell cars, sell villas to pay debts. Pay no debt, had to leave the country to work away from home to earn money cradle – also a way to … evade debt.

LAM GIANG – TUAN ANH

According to Vietnam Agriculture