Spring - refrain: "good harvest, low price"

(Baonghean) -Currently, the spring peanut harvest in the whole province is entering the final stage. This year's spring crop, peanut output is estimated at nearly 38 thousand tons. However, the consumption situation is facing difficulties, especially in key peanut growing areas with large and concentrated volumes.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa (Hamlet 3, Nghi Long, Nghi Loc) said: Her family has 4 sao of peanuts, all planted with L26 peanuts. This year the weather is favorable, the peanuts bloom and the weather is warm, so the yield is quite high - nearly 180 kg/sao. "Pulling the peanuts in this sunny weather will be very favorable for drying the peanuts" - Ms. Hoa happily said.

In other communes of Nghi Loc, farmers are also happy with the joy of a good peanut crop. Vice Chairman of Nghi Truong Commune People's Committee - Mr. Nguyen Duy Chau said: The whole commune has 320 hectares of peanuts, of which 195 hectares were sown before Tet. If in 2012, Nghi Truong peanuts failed due to harsh weather, this spring crop, the weather is very favorable for spring peanuts to grow, with an average yield of 25-26 quintals/sao.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Tho - Head of the Department of Agriculture of Nghi Loc district said: This spring crop, Nghi Loc planted 3,360 hectares of peanuts, including 35 hectares of large-scale fields in Nghi Long commune, producing L26 peanut varieties, with products purchased by Nghe An Agricultural Materials Joint Stock Corporation. This year, the weather is quite favorable for peanut growth and development, in addition, varieties with high yield potential such as L14, L26, L23 were put into production. Thanks to that, the peanut yield of the whole district is estimated to reach an average of over 23 quintals/ha, an increase of 3 quintals/ha compared to last spring crop.

Harvesting spring peanuts in Nghi Trung (Nghi Loc). Photo: Chau Lan

At the "peanut barn" of Dien Chau, 3,200 hectares of peanuts have been harvested. With the peanut growing area being mainly coastal sandy land, spring peanuts in Dien Chau were sown earlier to avoid the late-season drought and were also harvested earlier than many other localities. Vice Chairwoman of Dien Chau District People's Committee - Ms. Hoang Thi Huong said: This year's spring peanut crop in Dien Chau encountered drought when flowering but still had a good harvest, with an average yield of over 26 quintals/ha.

This spring crop, the whole province sowed 16,775.6 hectares of peanuts, a decrease of more than 700 hectares compared to last spring crop. In addition to the two main "peanut granaries" of Dien Chau and Nghi Loc, some other localities also have quite large spring peanut areas such as Quynh Luu 1,800 hectares, Nam Dan 1,699 hectares... According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development's estimate, this year the peanut yield will reach about 23 quintals/ha, of which Dien Chau reaches nearly 26 quintals/ha, Quynh Luu 25 quintals/ha, other localities such as Cua Lo, Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong reach over 23 quintals/ha, Vinh City over 24 quintals/ha..., bringing the total spring peanut output of the whole province to an estimated 37,947.77 tons.

In addition to favorable weather, Nghe An peanuts also have new peanut varieties with high yield potential such as L14 and L26. Farmers invest in reasonable intensive cultivation, most of the area is covered with plastic, especially in Quynh Luu, Dien Chau and Nghi Loc.

Peanuts have a good harvest, but it is very difficult to sell them now. Ms. Dang Thi Hang (Hamlet 3, Nghi An Commune) said: There are so many things that need money, but the peanuts have not been sold yet, and the price is low, only 15,000 VND/kg. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoan (Hamlet 19, Nghi Trung Commune) has 3 sao of peanuts. She said: "This year's peanuts are good, about 125-130 kg/sao, much higher than last year, but if in previous years, many people bought them, this year many households have dried the peanuts but no one has asked for them yet." The whole commune has 180 hectares of peanut land, which has been basically harvested but has not been sold yet. According to the people here, in the spring of 2012, the peanut crop was bad, but the price was high (25-26,000 VND/kg), many families just had to pull them up and sell fresh peanuts right in the field. This year, the weather is favorable, the peanut crop is good, but it is difficult to sell. Many households sell fresh peanuts to beer bars. Two consecutive years with the refrain "good harvest, low price" and vice versa make it difficult for farmers.

According to Mr. Pham Ngoc Thang - Owner of Sy Thang Private Enterprise, who has been involved in purchasing and exporting peanuts for nearly 15 years, Nghe An peanuts have much better quality than peanuts from many other provinces, with more beautiful kernels and more oil. Of the more than 2,000 tons of peanuts collected annually by the enterprise, 2/3 are Nghe An peanuts, in addition to Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Hue... But along with other objective reasons, the post-harvest preservation and processing stage is an important factor contributing to Nghe An peanuts "losing points" in the market.

For many years now, there has been a situation where private traders collect peanuts from the people, then "process" them by pouring water into them and grinding them, both to prevent them from breaking and to increase their weight. Therefore, Nghe An peanuts are mainly sold to China through unofficial channels, and a small amount goes to Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, but have not yet entered the "difficult" markets. And so, inevitably, when the Chinese market is "full" of goods, our peanut products immediately fall into a state of stagnation. This year, because Indian, Malaysian, and Indonesian peanuts have a good harvest, flooding China at cheap prices, this main market only buys Nghe An peanuts in small quantities and drops.

Dien Thinh Commune (Dien Chau) has more than a few dozen households doing peanut business, specializing in buying and selling to China. Every year, this volume is up to 15-20 thousand tons. A trader in Dien Thinh Commune - Mr. Phan Van Bon said: Having been in this business for more than two decades, I see that the peanut consumption of Nghe An is still very unstable, depending on the Chinese market. Currently, the peanut price is less than 2/3 compared to last year, only at 16-17 thousand VND/kg. The amount of peanuts consumed by the people is also very low. Most of Dien Chau farmers do not want to sell to wait and see the price situation, and Nghi Loc peanuts are not yet purchased because there is no market demand. Therefore, up to now, he has only collected less than 10 tons, while every year, up to this time, Mr. Bon has sold several hundred tons of peanuts.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Lap - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in line with the general trend of the whole country, the consumption of agricultural products in Nghe An still has many shortcomings. Unprocessed agricultural products such as rice and peanuts have not yet signed product consumption contracts, farmers mainly produce and sell their products to traders. Meanwhile, traders in Nghe An are mainly small traders, with weak capacity, almost completely dependent on other customers, so they are very passive. In addition, there is still a lack of a reasonable mechanism to attract businesses to participate right from the production process to the consumption stage. Therefore, building the brand of Nghe An peanuts, supporting businesses to promote trade, and finding stable markets has not been done yet...

Phu Huong