Sugarcane is blooming and waiting for... the factory!
After Tet, sugarcane farmers in Nghia Dan and Quy Hop districts are very worried because Tate & Lyle Sugarcane Factory is purchasing too slowly and now the sugarcane has flowered and the tops of the plants are dry, so the sugar reserves will definitely decrease and they will have to sell at low prices, causing farmers to suffer heavy losses.
(Baonghean) -After Tet, sugarcane farmers in Nghia Dan and Quy Hop districts are very worried because Tate & Lyle Sugarcane Factory is purchasing too slowly and now the sugarcane has flowered and the tops of the plants are dry, so the sugar reserves will definitely decrease and they will have to sell at low prices, causing farmers to suffer heavy losses.
We went to Van Loi, Dong Hop, Ha Son communes... (Quy Hop) and witnessed vast stretches of sugarcane with white flags on the fields and fields. The faces of sugarcane farmers were all sad. Ms. Ho Thi Mo in Dong Bang hamlet, Dong Hop commune for the past month has been like sitting on a pile of fire when she has grown 6 sao of sugarcane but up to this point has only been able to cut and sell 3 sao. Ms. Mo said: I asked for the factory's order to cut sugarcane but still haven't received it, the sugarcane has flagged, the core is all spongy, rats have bitten the plants and if we keep telling them to wait, what else can we do? Mr. Nguyen Bao Cong - head of Dong Bang hamlet said: At the beginning of the year, the factory announced the price of 900,000 VND/ton of sugarcane, but up to this point, they only buy it for 870,000 VND/kg, which is too low. The livelihood of many households depends on sugarcane, if the price is low and the purchase is slow, many families will be in great difficulty.
Sugarcane fields bloom white flags in Dong Hop - Quy Hop.
Mr. Tran Xuan Luc - Chairman of Dong Hop Commune People's Committee indignantly said: Dong Hop has over 200 hectares of sugarcane, up to this point the factory has only purchased over 40% of the area. Of which, over 130 hectares of sugarcane have been overdue for cutting for over 2 months, most of the sugarcane has flagged, many areas of sugarcane have dried, reducing the weight by about 12-15%. Sugarcane growers are suffering losses due to "flagging" from 7-10 tons/ha. The commune requested Tate & Lyle Sugarcane Factory to have a plan to promptly purchase for the people to stabilize their lives.
Mr. Hoang Van Thai - Head of the Department of Agriculture of Quy Hop district added: The sugarcane area in Quy Hop is 7,104 hectares, currently only nearly 50% of the area has been purchased. At first, the organizers organized early purchase but due to low sugar content, they stopped. Currently, there are 630 hectares of sugarcane that were infected with grass shoot disease that need to be harvested earlier to completely treat the disease. Slow purchase not only directly affects the lives of sugarcane growers but also the progress of new planting not being timely will affect the sugarcane yield of the following year.
In Nghia Hoi commune, Nghia Dan district, many farmers are losing sleep because the factory only buys "drips" of sugarcane, causing the flagging sugarcane to be "imprisoned" in the fields. Mr. Le Van Ngoc - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghia Hoi - Nghia Dan commune added: According to previous years, at this time the factory has purchased about 80% of the area for the commune. The commune has over 400 hectares of sugarcane, now the factory has only purchased over 50% of the area, the remaining area is flagging, reducing productivity and especially slowing down the sugarcane planting season next year. The commune really hopes that the factory will promptly purchase sugarcane for the people.
Mr. Le Trung Tam - Head of the Department of Agriculture of Nghia Dan district said: The whole Nghia Dan district has 7,500 hectares of sugarcane, up to now the factory has only purchased over 50% of the area.
Regarding the raw material area of Song Lam Sugarcane Joint Stock Company, although the price of sugarcane has also dropped due to a sharp decrease in world sugar prices, the consumption of sugarcane for farmers has been quite timely. Mr. Vo Dinh Thanh in Thach Ngan commune - Con Cuong said: His family planted 1 hectare of sugarcane, and has harvested over 90% of the area so far. Thanks to the timely purchase by the factory, the sugarcane has not flagged, and the yield has reached 70 tons/ha. It is known that Thach Ngan commune has over 180 hectares of sugarcane, and the factory has purchased over 170 hectares, and in about 10 days it will buy all of it for people to replant. The whole Con Cuong district has nearly 200 hectares of sugarcane, and the factory basically purchases it promptly for farmers, so the situation of sugarcane flagging does not reduce productivity.
The longer the sugarcane is left to flag and mature, the more damage it will cause to sugarcane growers. We request that Tate & Lyle Sugar Factory have a purchasing plan to stabilize the lives of people in the sugarcane growing area.
Dinh River
