Late winter peanut crop in Nam Dan: Crop failure, poor quality tubers.
In previous years, the late winter-early spring peanut crop of farmers in the Lam River floodplain area of Nam Dan district yielded high returns, but this year, the peanut crop has suffered a severe failure, the selling price is low, and consumption is weaker.
These days, on the banks of the Lam River in Thuong Tan Loc commune, people are busy harvesting peanuts to prepare for planting watermelons in the spring-summer season.
In late October of the lunar calendar, after harvesting red beans, Mrs. Tran Thi Xuan's family in Hop Tan hamlet planted nearly 2 sao (approximately 2,000 square meters) of peanuts and is currently harvesting them to make way for watermelon planting. However, unlike previous years when she would harvest around 300 kg of fresh peanuts per season, this year she has almost completely lost the crop, only getting about 50-60 kg. The peanut plants that were pulled up are mostly full of single peanuts, scattered among the roots, not laden with peanuts like in previous years.
Ms. Tran Thi Xuan brought peanuts to sell to passersby along the road, but she said that not only was the price lower than in previous years, at only 20,000 VND/kg, but there were also very few customers.
This year, Mr. Tran Ba Dong's family in Hop Tan hamlet planted over 3 sao (approximately 3,000 square meters) of peanuts in October of the lunar calendar, after harvesting the sticky corn crop. Having already harvested half a sao of peanuts, Mr. Dong said: "Last year, these peanut rows yielded several tens of kilograms of dried peanuts, but this year we only managed to salvage less than 10 kilograms of fresh peanuts."
"If peanut plants flower and the weather is warm with rain, they will produce many pods. But this year, when the peanut plants flowered, there was no thunderstorm, only prolonged cold and dry weather, causing the flowers to droop, and no pods, especially firm ones, were formed. Not only that, the peanuts are also of poor quality and not firm. In previous years, more than half a sao (approximately 1000 square meters) of peanuts would yield several tens of kilograms of dried peanuts, but this year we only got less than 10 tens of kilograms of fresh peanuts, not enough to cover the cost of the seeds."
Mr. Tran Ba Dong - Hop Tan hamlet, Thuong Tan Loc commune, Nam Dan district
In Thuong Tan Loc commune, there are 110 hectares of late winter and early spring peanut crops in Dai Loc, Dai Dong, Hop Tan hamlets, etc. According to Mr. Tran Xuan Hung, the commune's agricultural and plant protection officer: This year's peanut crop is severely poor, with an average yield of only about 1.5 quintals of fresh peanuts per sao (approximately 1000 square meters), equivalent to about 90 kg of dried peanuts, while the commune's normal peanut yield is usually 2.2-2.4 quintals per sao. "Some areas were affected by mold; many areas were planted 7-10 days earlier than usual, and when the flowers bloomed, they encountered cold weather, resulting in poor pod formation and low yield and quality," Mr. Tran Xuan Hung said.
Starting with scattered harvesting about a week ago, farmers in Nam Dan district are expected to finish harvesting late winter and early spring peanut crops in the riverside areas by mid-April. They mainly sell fresh peanuts to customers, especially beer gardens during the sunny season; however, there are currently very few buyers.
