Nghe An: Shallots yield low, prices 'hit rock bottom'

Last year,shallots price fall miserably, difficult to sell, so this year, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huong's family (Hamlet 8, Nghi Lam, Nghi Loc) only grows 1.5 sao of chives (0.5 sao less than last year). Not only is the area reduced, but the investment in caring for the chives is also calculated to be cut down by her family.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong said: “If fully invested, one sao of shallots costs about 10 million VND from seeds, fertilizers, rice husks, pine leaves, pesticides, plus 8 months of care and harvesting. This year, the price of fertilizers has continuously increased, so the input costs for caring for shallots have also increased. Last year’s shallot crop suffered heavy losses, with each sao of shallots costing people 4-5 million VND, not to mention the care and harvesting costs, so this year, not only have we reduced the area, but we have also reduced the input materials and fertilizers for the shallots.”

Farmers are in the peak harvest season of chives. Photo: Thanh Phuc

If in the 2020-2021 onion crop, Mr. Nguyen Sy Cuong's family grew 4 sao of onions, this year the area has been reduced to only 2 sao, the remaining 2 sao, his family switched to growing corn and peanuts. With 2 sao of onions, if fully invested, it would cost over 20 million VND. However, onion prices have been continuously low, suffering losses, so this onion crop, he was forced to cut some investment costs for onions such as: reducing the amount of fertilizer, reducing the amount of rice husk, pine leaves covering onions... Due to lack of investment and careful care, onion yield is lower than in previous years.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lam, Head of Hamlet 8, Nghi Lam Commune, said: “Shallots are the main crop of Nghi Lam in general and Hamlet 8 in particular. In previous years, the hamlet’s onion growing area was 15 hectares, this year, it has decreased to 7 hectares. The previous onion growing area has been replaced by corn and peanuts.”

Due to reduced investment and neglect of care, onions are less productive and the bulbs are smaller than in previous years. Photo: Thanh Phuc

AllNghi Thuan communeThere are 60 hectares of onions with 1,235 households growing onions. For three consecutive years from 2019 to now, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, onion consumption has been difficult, especially last year's onion crop, when onion prices dropped dramatically, causing people to suffer losses. Although the onion growing area in Nghi Thuan has not decreased compared to previous years, this year, people have also cut part of their investment costs for onions to reduce losses.

It is currently the peak harvest season for shallots. In the fields of Nghi Lam, Nghi Kieu, Nghi My, Nghi Thuan, etc., people are gathering to dig up shallots. The low price of shallots makes people unhappy.

Onion prices are currently low, ranging from 15,000 - 18,000 VND/kg. Photo: Thanh Phuc

“The yield is lower, the price of onions is also low, after 8 months of care, now when it’s time to harvest, we have to spend a lot of time digging. 1 sao of onions, if it takes 1 person a month to finish. After digging, we have to dry them, remove all the roots, and sift them cleanly before importing. With the capital and effort of planting, caring for, and harvesting, if we can only sell them for 16,000-17,000 VND/kg, we will lose a lot,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong.

Although there was a loss, the onions were old so we had to harvest them because the longer we left them, the more we lost. Ms. Ho Thi Thu, an onion grower in Nghi Thuan (Nghi Loc) said: “Last year, at the beginning of the season, the price of onions was 20,000 VND/kg, but during the main season, it dropped sharply to 15,000-16,000 VND/kg and there was no place to sell them, so people stopped harvesting. To prevent the onions from rising above the ground and turning green, causing the price to drop, we had to buy more rice husks to cover them and wait until the price increased at the end of the season to sell them. However, towards the end of the season, the price of onions dropped dramatically, at one point, 1kg of onions was only 10,000 VND, but we still had to accept it.”

At Nghi Lam onion farm, people have proactively converted the area of ​​chives to grow corn and peanuts instead when onion prices continuously "hit rock bottom". Photo: Thanh Phuc

Learning from this year's experience, when traders were still buying, people focused on digging up onions to sell, saving whatever they could. On the other hand, they had to harvest in time to take care of the corn, peanuts, and vegetables that had already been harvested.intercroppingin advance to offset some of the costs.

Currently, the price of fresh onions in the field is 15,000 VND/kg, dried onions, cleaned and sifted, cost 18,000 - 20,000 VND/kg. This price is considered to have "hit rock bottom", but traders are still buying sparingly.

Traders also only buy sparingly. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Unable to rely entirely on traders, many households have found ways to sell their products through social networking sites, transport them to retail markets, connect with companies that process dried eels and dried onions to sell, and ask acquaintances in other provinces to sell them for them. However, with the amount reaching thousands of tons, this small-scale consumption channel is not enough. What people want is for the immediate future, all levels and sectors find ways to sell onions.

Mr. Tran Nguyen Hoa - HeadNghi Loc District Agriculture Departmentsaid: “In addition to many communes that have traditionally reduced their onion growing areas, in many other communes, people spontaneously grow onions, so the district’s onion growing area this year is 234 hectares (an increase of 41.5 hectares), with an output of 2,169.6 tons (an increase of 122.06 tons). The current onion price is 15,000-18,000 VND/kg (lower than previous years).

Despite low prices, people still urgently harvest to take care of intercropping crops in time. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Faced with the increase in onion acreage, the district has directed communes to have plans and details for appropriate onion production and advised people not to expand the acreage massively. At the same time, find ways to connect people to consume the products. However, due to the peak harvest season, the output of shallots is high, so prices tend to decrease.