Pink banana exports are sluggish, must be discarded and composted to make bio-fertilizer

Present in Thuan Ly beach area (Thuan Son) when 20 hapink bananaIt's harvest time. About 1/3 of the banana acreage is green and ripe, many bunches are ripe but the farm owner only harvests sparingly because there are no traders to buy.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Tuan - the manager of this 20-hectare banana farm said: "Currently, it is the main harvest season for pink bananas. On average, about 15-20 tons of bananas are harvested every day. However, the bananas that are cut down do not know who to sell to. Occasionally, traders from Vinh come to buy a few tons per trip."

Currently, 20 hectares of pink bananas in Thuan Son commune (Do Luong) are in the harvest season. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Mr. Tuan said that to have 20 hectares of bananas developed like today, the initial investment capital from land improvement, electricity and water systems, seeds, fertilizers, etc. amounted to tens of billions of dong.

At the end of 2019, the first pink banana trees were planted. The banana tree care process strictly followed European export standards, so it was very elaborate and expensive. According to calculations, to have a standard banana bunch, it costs 100,000 - 120,000 VND.

To have a bunch of bananas that reach the required weight, people have to invest about 100,000 - 120,000 VND. Photo: Thanh Phuc

However, in 2020, when the first batch of bananas was harvested, the Covid-19 pandemic in the world was complicated, bananas were only exported to China in small quantities at low prices, profits were almost "0". There was no profit but luckily they were still able to sell. Mr. Tuan said: "Last year,low banana pricesBut 15 containers were still exported to China and then traders from the North came to buy so the bananas were not stagnant.

Currently, dozens of hectares of bananas are in harvest season with a yield of up to hundreds of tons, but they only depend on traders to buy 1-2 tons per trip. Photo: Thanh Phuc

And this year,unexportableIn the northern provinces, the epidemic broke out strongly, so traders did not come to buy, the domestic consumption market was almost non-existent, so bananas were sluggish and stagnant. Overripe bananas had to be thrown away or composted to make bio-fertilizer.

With the output deadlocked, banana prices have also dropped to a record low, fluctuating only 1,200 - 1,800 VND/kg. Meanwhile, investment costs have reached 2,500 - 3,000 VND/kg, only if sold at 4,000 VND/kg will there be a profit. According to calculations, with this price, banana growers must compensate for a loss of about 15-20 million VND/ha.

Unsold ripe bananas had to be piled up, chopped up and composted to make bio-fertilizer. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The model of growing pink bananas for export was expected to bring outstanding economic efficiency.alluvial landThuan Son (Do Luong) is one of the pioneering high-tech agricultural models of the district.