Ky Son: Finding a market for ginger

(Baonghean) - Ky Son district has the potential to develop ginger cultivation. For a long time, the Mong ethnic people in the communes of Na Ngoi, Huoi Tu, Nam Can, Tay Son, etc., have grown a considerable amount of ginger as a commercial crop. However, fluctuating prices and a lack of stable markets have led many people to lose interest in ginger cultivation... Currently, the Huong Son Agricultural and Handicraft Service Cooperative (Ky Son) has partnered with several companies to export ginger abroad, and has also invested in purchasing drying machines to process agricultural products...

One day in mid-October, we visited the Huong Son Agricultural and Handicraft Service Cooperative in Muong Xen Town, Ky Son District. Despite several days of continuous rain, the cooperative was bustling with activity. Inside, several young men were unloading sacks of ginger from trucks into the warehouse, while dozens of women were diligently sorting and packaging the ginger. Further inside was the area where the agricultural drying machines, recently installed, were located...

Selecting ginger for export packaging at Huong Son Agricultural and Handicraft Service Cooperative.

Mr. Nguyen Van Luan, the head of the cooperative, said: "According to the contract with our partner, we need 20 tons of goods by tomorrow morning, so even with this rainy weather, we've arranged for workers to work to meet the customer's order. For export goods, once a contract is signed, the goods must be delivered promptly and in full; otherwise, we will lose credibility. Ginger for export comes in two forms: fresh and dried, but fresh ginger is the most common, exported to countries like Bangladesh and India. Since the beginning of the year, the cooperative has purchased nearly 2,000 tons of fresh ginger, of which about 80% is exported."

The ginger for export requires it to be beautiful, not too old, whole, and undamaged. Therefore, female laborers are needed to carefully select the ginger, then put it into sacks and tie them tightly. During peak periods, the cooperative employs 60 workers to purchase ginger from local areas, load and unload trucks, and sort and pack the ginger. All laborers are local people. Wages vary depending on the work, with a minimum of 100,000 VND per person per day. Last year, the cooperative only managed to purchase 500 tons of fresh ginger. The reason was that the price of ginger was too low, so people didn't harvest it. Furthermore, the domestic and international markets were not yet very familiar with Ky Son ginger, making it difficult to sell. The overripe and poor-quality ginger was sorted out and used by the cooperative as seeds for local farmers to plant.

The reverse-heat dryer of Huong Son Agricultural and Handicraft Service Cooperative.

Leading us to the drying area, Mr. Luan enthusiastically explained: "This is a semi-automatic reverse-heat dryer that the cooperative just bought from Cuong Thinh Mechanical Company (Hanoi) for 150 million VND. When the dryer is operating, the temperature is adjusted to our liking, so there's no need to manually turn the produce over during drying. This machine can dry not only ginger but also all kinds of agricultural products such as corn, cassava, potatoes, etc. Therefore, during the harvest season, even in the rain, the cooperative still buys produce from farmers and then processes it through the dryer without spoilage. The dryer has a capacity of 10 tons per batch, and the drying time is within 3 hours. Previously, the cooperative invested in a dryer, but it was an outdated model, consuming a lot of fuel, requiring labor, and having low efficiency."

October marks the end of the old harvest season and the beginning of the new one, so ginger is currently fetching good prices. Currently, the Huong Son Agricultural and Handicraft Service Cooperative is purchasing ginger at 7,000 VND/kg, nearly double the price at this time last year. However, according to the Cooperative's Chairman, ginger prices are expected to fall soon, as other countries are also harvesting ginger, making export prices unstable. Therefore, both farmers and buyers must accept this situation. Historically, very few agricultural products have maintained stable market prices. In recent years, ginger prices have sometimes dropped too low, causing farmers in some areas to neglect ginger cultivation. For example, in Huoi Tu commune, two years ago, the ginger growing area was about 4-5 hectares, but now it's less than 1 hectare.

According to a report from the District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: In recent years, Ky Son district has consistently maintained 370-375 hectares of ginger, concentrated most heavily in communes inhabited by the Mong ethnic group (Na Ngoi, Tay Son, Dooc May, Nam Can...). The annual ginger yield averages 15 tons/ha. Thus, Ky Son produces approximately 5,600 tons of ginger annually. In previous years, Ky Son ginger was mainly consumed in the domestic market; at times, even with low prices, it remained unsold, forcing farmers to wait until the following year to harvest. Since last year, Ky Son ginger has begun to be exported through the Huong Son Agricultural Service and Handicraft Cooperative, but the quantity is still insufficient to match the production. It is hoped that in the coming years, the cooperative will become a stable market for ginger for the local people. Along with taro and zucchini, ginger is a crop that helps alleviate poverty for the ethnic minorities in the mountainous areas of Ky Son. The locality needs to actively coordinate with cooperatives to stabilize the consumption of ginger products for the people. It can be said that in recent years, ginger has proven its worth in Ky Son, so every year the district organizes the implementation of ginger cultivation models on sloping land in key communes such as Na Ngoi and Tay Son...

Xuan Hoang