High sugarcane yield, but low price

(Baonghean) -Farmers in Quy Hop are urgently harvesting sugarcane to supply to sugar factories. Low sugarcane prices have made the joy of celebrating Tet for many farmers not complete.

At the beginning of this sugarcane season, Tate & Lyle Sugar Factory was purchasing sugarcane from farmers at 900,000 VND per ton at the field, 70,000 VND/ton lower than last year. But up to now, the price of sugarcane has dropped to 870,000 VND/ton. The reason the factory explained to the people was that because the sugar price was low, the sugarcane purchase price also decreased. While the harsh weather combined with high fertilizer and material costs, the income of sugarcane growers after deducting costs, the profit is still very low. Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha, Ham village, Chau Dinh commune said: This year, because of planting a new sugarcane variety, the sugarcane yield is higher than last year. But the price of sugarcane is lower than last year, so income has decreased.

This year, Quy Hop district has a total sugarcane area of ​​over 7,100 hectares, an increase of nearly 1,000 hectares compared to the previous crop. The increase in sugarcane area this year is thanks to the policy of supporting the destruction of grass shoot disease to replant with disease-free sugarcane varieties in the spring and autumn crops. Another factor for the increase in sugarcane area is that last year, cassava prices fell sharply, so people converted this area to sugarcane cultivation in the hope of higher income. Communes with a sharp increase in sugarcane area compared to last year are Ha Son, Van Loi, and Chau Dinh.



Purchasing sugarcane in Chau Dinh commune (Quy Hop)

Currently, the total harvested sugarcane area in the district is about 50%. Sugarcane is perennial and mainly grown with old sugarcane varieties with low sugar content. The average sugarcane yield is estimated at 60 tons/ha, an increase of about 10 tons/ha compared to last year. Typically, in Bac Son commune, the sugarcane yield is 80 tons/ha. Bac Son commune also has 6ha of disease-free sugarcane.

In this sugarcane crop, with the support of the Provincial People's Committee and the sugar factory to treat grass shoot disease for each hectare at 4.5 million VND, Quy Hop has treated more than 3,300 hectares of sugarcane infected with severe and mild grass shoot disease with disease-free sugarcane varieties brought from Thanh Hoa to supply to farmers. Currently, the whole district still has about 2,000 hectares of sugarcane infected with grass shoot disease, concentrated in Tam Hop and Nghia Xuan communes... In Dong Hop commune, the total sugarcane area this year is 218 hectares.

Ms. Pham Thi Sam, Khe Men hamlet, Dong Hop commune said: My family has about 1 hectare of sugarcane but because there is no order from the factory, we have not been able to harvest it yet. The sugarcane has now flowered so the sugar content is decreasing. Ms. Sam shared that it is almost Tet but the sugarcane has not been harvested yet so she does not know where to get money to buy Tet this year. Besides, the price of sugarcane this year is lower than last year. At the beginning of the season, the sugar factory deducted impurities from each truck by about 2 to 3 million VND. If the factory buys at this price, sugarcane growers will not make a profit.

Mr. Hoang Van Thai, Head of the District Agriculture Department, said: Although the price at the beginning of the season is still low, compared to other crops, the output is stable, the factory buys all products for farmers, so sugarcane is still the main crop that the Party Committee and authorities in Quy Hop are interested in directing people to continue to stabilize the area.

Pham Bang