Oranges and grapefruits are at risk of "breaking out": The Ministry has warned, only because people are greedy

People are planting oranges and grapefruits in large numbers, prices are falling.

Sitting and watching his orange garden of more than 1 hectare sprouting, Mr. Bui Duc Long in Luc Ngan (Bac Giang) shared that he has 3 orange gardens including Duong Canh oranges and Long Vang oranges with an area of ​​5 hectares and is planning to destroy one garden.

Mr. Long confided that this year has been the 16th year he has grown orange trees on Luc Ngan land, but his income from oranges has been decreasing even though the yield and quality of oranges in his garden have increased significantly.

Like the last five crops, the price of grade 1 oranges was only 30,000 - 35,000 VND/kg depending on the time. At that price, it was only half of the 2016 orange crop. According to him, the reason for the sharp drop in orange prices was that people in all localities were competing to grow them. "Not only the famous orange growing capitals, now from Lang Son, Quang Ninh to Vinh Phuc,... everywhere you can see farmers growing oranges."

Planting a lot, the supply increases and the price decreases, which is natural. Even more sad, many growers do not take good care of the fruit, when harvesting, the fruit is of poor quality and sold to the market at a cheap price, affecting the quality growers because traders rely on the same, seeing this garden selling cheaply, they go to another garden to buy at the same cheap price.

The price of oranges of all kinds has dropped sharply in the last crop. The growers have not suffered losses yet, but their profits are dwindling. Therefore, if the current trend of competing to grow oranges continues, the price of oranges will decrease even more.

Meanwhile, in districts such as Dan Phuong, Phuc Tho, Soc Son, Ba Vi... (Hanoi), every household grows grapefruit. Accordingly, each household has a few dozen trees, while some grow several hectares. Varieties of grapefruit, peach grapefruit, green-skin grapefruit, and Nam Roi grapefruit cover the fields and gardens.

Even in Phu Xuyen district (Hanoi), there is a situation where people are abandoning rice fields to grow grapefruit. Because, 2 years ago, the price of Dien grapefruit was purchased at the garden at 35,000 VND/fruit. It turns out that a mature grapefruit tree (5th year onwards) can yield up to 100 fruits, equivalent to 3.5 million VND, many times higher than growing rice.

However, due to massive planting, supply exceeding demand, the selling price of oranges and grapefruits recently decreased sharply. Specifically, at the end of 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development informed that the price of oranges in the Mekong Delta provinces had decreased by 1/3 compared to the previous year. The reason is that the supply to the market is too large, so the price has decreased so miserably.

Similarly, the orange capital Cao Phong also suffered the same fate. After several years of good harvests and big profits for orange farmers, this year the price of oranges in this locality has dropped sharply to 20,000 VND/kg.

According to the leader of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hoa Binh, the price of oranges decreased partly due to a good harvest, and partly because in addition to oranges in Cao Phong, in 2017, Hoa Binh also had additional orange growing areas in Lac Thuy and Kim Boi districts.

Similarly, at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, the market was also flooded with Dien grapefruits. The price was no longer at the sky-high level of previous years, but had dropped to only 20,000 - 40,000 VND/fruit depending on the type, and many places even sold them for only 7,000 - 15,000 VND/fruit.

Production according to the market… The Ministry does not manage

Many people, even farmers themselves, are worried and afraid that citrus trees will be at risk of "battle" because farmers in many localities are racing to expand the area of ​​​​growing oranges and grapefruits. At the regular press conference of the second quarter of 2018 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Cuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), admitted that citrus fruit trees have grown very strongly. For example, in 2017, the area increased greatly to 22,000 hectares compared to 2016. Of which, the current orange growing area is 90,000, an increase of 10,000 hectares; the grapefruit growing area increased by 13,000 hectares compared to 2016.

According to Mr. Cuong, these are citrus trees that require high soil conditions, but the products are mainly for domestic consumption. In recent years, farmers have expanded the area of ​​​​planting this citrus tree in many localities. As a result, citrus trees are currently growing vigorously.

Sharing about the issue of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development having a plan for citrus trees, Mr. Cuong affirmed that according to the new regulations, there is no plan, and there will not be any in the future. Especially for trees with a small planting area like citrus trees.

However, at the end of March, the Department of Crop Production also issued a document recommending that localities need to develop a reasonable crop structure, including citrus growing areas, to minimize the situation of good harvests but low prices, and the market must participate in rescuing agricultural products.

“Agriculture is now produced according to the market. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is not allowed to require localities and farmers not to grow this or that crop. If anything, it is only to issue documents advising localities and farmers on how to produce properly and minimize risks. But it is very rare to consume all of the production as soon as it is produced; even in Europe, there is a phenomenon of agricultural product backlog during peak season,” said Mr. Cuong.