Ky Son: Overgrown ginger faces difficulties in sales.
(Baonghean) “Two or three years ago, the ginger harvest season was like a festival. People would dig up as much as they could find and it would all be bought. Growing ginger brought in a lot of money, making the villagers very happy. But since before Tet (Lunar New Year), there have been no buyers, even though the price has dropped very low. Now the ginger is old, past the harvest season, and only occasionally do people place small orders. The villagers don't know who to sell it to,” said Mr. Va Giong Chua, Head of Tham Hin village, Nam Can commune, Ky Son district.
(Baonghean) “Two or three years ago, the ginger harvest season was like a festival. People would dig up as much as they could find and it would all be bought. Growing ginger brought in a lot of money, making the villagers very happy. But since before Tet (Lunar New Year), there have been no buyers, even though the price has dropped very low. Now the ginger is old, past the harvest season, and only occasionally do people place small orders. The villagers don't know who to sell it to,” said Mr. Va Giong Chua, Head of Tham Hin village, Nam Can commune, Ky Son district.
Seeing firsthand many ginger fields with withered, yellowing leaves and fallen stems, I understood even more the plight of the ginger farmers here.
Ginger was once considered a key crop for poverty alleviation in Nam Can commune, Ky Son district. It was widely cultivated in hillside fields where rice was no longer productive. Ginger cultivation yielded stable harvests and fetched high prices (typically 7,000-10,000 VND/kg, sometimes reaching 17,000 VND/kg), leading many households to expand their planting areas. Numerous families earned tens, even hundreds of millions of dong after each ginger harvest.
Ginger harvested in Nam Can has no buyers.
However, since last year, ginger farmers in Nam Can have been in a state of constant anxiety. Their ginger is past its harvest season, but there are no buyers, even though the price has dropped to only 3,000-4,000 VND per kilogram. Ginger tubers can only be harvested after one year; if left until the following year, the yield will decrease because the mature tubers will decompose naturally.
According to statistics, the entire commune currently has about 60 hectares of ginger fields, concentrated in four villages: Nam Can, Huoi Nhao, Lien Son, and Tham Hin. All of these ginger fields are past their harvest season. A resident of Nam Can, after visiting their ginger field, lamented: "The ginger is past its harvest time, like rotten firewood. We hope someone will buy our ginger soon so the villagers can be relieved of this hardship."
Thang Binh - Muong Xen - Ky Son
