Again “plunge” pepper because… high price
Realizing that pepper prices have increased and are relatively stable in the past few months, farmers in Dak Nong province have “warmed up” the development of pepper area.
In the early days of May, Mr. Pham Ky, residing in Dak Mil district, and his son were busy moving hundreds of wooden pillars to the garden to prepare to plant more pepper. The sudden increase in the price of pepper was the reason why his family decided to expand this growing area.
Mr. Ky said: “I bought more than 400 wooden pillars to grow more pepper. Also growing and worrying about the price going up and down. But farmers are now disoriented, whenever they see a valuable tree, they rush after that tree, hoping to win a few seasons to have food to eat.”
Not only Mr. Ky, many other farmers in Dak Mil, Krong No, Dak Song, Tuy Duc districts… are also running to buy poles to prepare to expand the pepper area. Some households with more difficulties pour concrete pillars to develop pepper area before the end of the rainy season.
Mr. Nguyen Van Mai, residing in Krong No district, currently has 1 ha of pepper being harvested. This year, his family collected about 4 tons of pepper. With the current selling price fluctuating around 70,000 VND/kg, his family made a profit of about 150 million VND after deducting expenses.
The price increase of pepper and high profits prompted him to intend to plant about 600 more pepper posts. “The price of pepper has increased, we farmers are very excited. That’s why this year I decided to invest about 70 million VND to buy 600 wooden pillars to grow pepper mixed in more than 1 hectare of coffee,” said Mr. Mai.
Similarly, at present, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngan, also in Krong No district, is busy taking care of about 1,000 gourds of pepper that she has planted herself. During this rainy season, her family plans to plant 1,000 gourds of pepper. “Hopefully in the next few years, pepper will at least keep the current price around 70,000 VND/kg,” said Ngan.
Despite the recommendations of the authorities
Mr. Doan Gia Loc, Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Krong No district, said that the whole district has more than 1,000 hectares of pepper, of which most of them have been harvested.
Since the beginning of the season, the price of pepper has increased more than every year, so people have expanded the area of this crop. However, this will face many risks, even repeating the situation of “supply exceeds demand”.
Facing the above situation, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Krong No district has advised people to be careful, at this time should not expand the pepper area. Because the epidemic in pepper is still not under control, the market is forecasted to be still volatile.
According to Mr. Loc, in the past, many pepper gardens died due to disease, the garden owner dug up to sell. At this time, pathogens still exist on the pepper posts, if not handled carefully, farmers are very easy to “have trouble”.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the demand for pepper in the world has not yet increased dramatically. The actual situation shows that the supply of pepper continues to exceed the demand.
The current high price of pepper does not reflect the actual situation of the world market. Currently, the province has about 33,000 hectares of pepper. In the long term, to ensure the balance between supply and demand, the province plans and keeps the pepper area stable at about 27,000 hectares.
Therefore, people should not continue to develop pepper but need to focus on taking care of healthy and suitable pepper gardens to stabilize production. In the areas of pepper infected and dead, people should not replant but switch to other crops to ensure their lives.
According to Laodong.vn
