Watermelons are so cheap that farmers in Nghe An are feeding them to their cows.

(Baonghean.vn) - Since the beginning of the 2016 harvest season, the price of cucumbers has only been around 1,000 VND/kg. Cucumber growers in Nam Xuan (Nam Dan) have had no choice but to exchange their cucumbers for snacks for their children or throw them away right in the fields.

Because of the plummeting prices, many people abandoned their watermelons in the fields.

In Nam Xuan commune, all 12 hamlets have people engaged in crop production, including over 1 hectare of cucumber cultivation. According to local residents, the price of cucumbers has never plummeted as drastically as this year, reaching only 1,000 VND/kg. Farmers have tried everything to sell their harvested cucumbers but to no avail. Traders are also refusing to buy because they can't find buyers.

Watermelons are still very difficult to sell even at only 1,000 VND/kg.

Many people pick melons to feed to their cows.

Mr. Nguyen Dac Trung, from Hamlet 10, Nam Xuan, Nam Dan (Nghe An), shared: “This year, my family planted 2 sao (approximately 2,000 square meters) of cucumbers. The weather was favorable, resulting in a bountiful harvest, but another reason is that traders who previously bought cucumbers have switched to buying cucumbers imported from Nghia Dan, leading to a drop in cucumber prices here.”

No one even bothered to ask to buy them; sometimes I had to directly "trade the melons for candy and snacks for my children." In fact, since the beginning of the season, I haven't been able to recoup the cost of seeds and fertilizer.

Currently, Trung's family, like many other households, is discouraged from harvesting cucumbers because the price is too low. Some even leave the cucumbers to ripen and turn yellow in the field or feed them to their cows.

These are organically grown melons, regularly cultivated by local people in Nam Xuan commune, Nam Dan district.

Pham Dong