Low sugarcane prices, growers face difficulties
(Baonghean) -The 2012-2013 sugarcane crushing season is considered to have abundant output and good productivity. However, the slow harvest progress, long actual crushing time, and the factory's reluctance to purchase sugarcane from farmers are posing many difficulties in sugarcane planting for the new crop in the Song Lam sugarcane raw material area.
At this time, more than 200 hectares of sugarcane of Hoa Son (Anh Son) people have been purchased by Song Lam Sugar Factory. In the sugarcane fields, most of the early harvested areas have been left behind and replanted by the people, and the sugarcane has begun to sprout. However, there are many areas of late harvested sugarcane that have only just begun to sprout, and some have even been plowed and tilled. Ms. Phan Thi Mui, Hamlet 3 - Hoa Son, who has been attached to 7 sao of sugarcane for nearly 10 years, said: "This year, only 4 sao of sugarcane were purchased by the factory at the beginning of the harvest season (October of last year), sold for 900,000 VND/ton, the remaining 3 sao yielded over 15 tons, with a yield of 5 tons/ha, because they had to wait too long in the fields to be harvested, the sugarcane flowered, grew branches, and had many impurities, and in the end, it was only sold for 860,000 VND/ton.
In previous years, the factory bought all the sugarcane after 3-4 months, this year it lasted nearly 7 months, so investing in and taking care of the new crop of sugarcane is very laborious and irregular." According to Mr. Nguyen Van Duc, Hamlet 3 Hoa Son, the price of sugarcane is low, some households sell sugarcane slowly, only getting 810 thousand VND/ton, while the price of fertilizer materials invested in sugarcane cultivation is increasingly high. Compared to a few years ago, the cost of biofertilizer has nearly doubled, from 180 thousand VND/quintal to 300 thousand VND/quintal. In particular, the slow sugarcane harvest makes it difficult to mobilize labor. Many households that cannot grow sugarcane according to plan will arrange to switch to growing other crops with short growth cycles.
People of Thanh Son commune (Anh Son) take care of the new sugarcane crop.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh My - Head of the Hoa Son Commune Agriculture Department, said: In general, in the recent sugarcane harvest, sugarcane was waiting for the factory's trucks for 10-16 months (previously up to 12 months), nearly 40/200 hectares of sugarcane that people had initially signed contracts for were 10 days late for harvest. In particular, in hamlets 1, 4, 5, 7 and hamlet 10, the sugarcane flagged, and the quality of the sugarcane decreased significantly. Due to the long sugarcane harvest time, currently, in some areas such as hamlet 6, the new crop of sugarcane has grown to the top, while in other hamlets, people have just officially plowed and cultivated. Compared to the general sugarcane planting progress as before, these areas are several months behind. This causes the sugarcane areas serving the new crop to develop differently, and the sugarcane plants to develop unevenly. Late sugarcane planting areas to increase productivity require people to pay attention and make large investments. Currently, for the 30 hectares of alluvial land in the planning to convert to sugarcane for the new crop, people cannot implement it according to plan.
In Thanh Son commune - the key sugarcane material area of Song Lam Sugar Factory, there are over 110 hectares of sugarcane for business. Currently, along the raw material route, people are growing cassava and corn instead of sugarcane. Mr. Ho Ngoc Nhuong - Chairman of Thanh Son Commune People's Committee, said: In the recent harvest, the thing that people are most concerned about is the unfair sugarcane purchasing mechanism of the factory. Purchasing sugarcane according to sugar reserves, excluding too many impurities, and the slow payment to people... has affected the people's psychology of growing sugarcane. Currently, the whole commune has over 15 hectares of raw sugarcane in the areas around hamlet 5, hamlet 3 and hamlet 7 that have been arranged by people to grow corn and cassava. According to Mr. Nhuong, if sugarcane prices do not increase, sugarcane growers will certainly gradually reduce their acreage in the following sugarcane crops.
Discussing the above difficulties, Mr. Le Thanh An - Deputy Director of Song Lam Sugarcane Joint Stock Company, shared: In the 2012-2013 crushing season, the factory's raw material area had over 1,700 hectares of sugarcane for business, sugarcane output reached 100,000 tons, an increase compared to the plan and the same period. However, sugar prices dropped to 14,000 VND/kg. In the past two years, sugar has been very difficult to sell, combined with the factory's lack of working capital, which is the reason why the factory had to adjust sugarcane prices down. Meanwhile, farmers' psychology is not familiar with the law of sugarcane prices following sugar prices. Together with farmers to overcome difficulties, the factory has a policy of reviewing the new planting area of households that did not plant last year, including support for microbial fertilizers, plows, and sugarcane seeds. Lending interest-free microbial organic fertilizer to farmers, and new planting households with large sugarcane areas are loaned seedling shoots to plant in time for the season.
What people want is that in the coming time, the Factory will calculate to have a plan to buy sugarcane in time, ensuring fairness for sugarcane growers. Avoid the situation of cut sugarcane having to wait for trucks for a long time in the field, affecting productivity, quality and especially the sustainable development of raw material areas in the future.
Article and photos: Luong Mai
