Nghe An: Sugarcane is old in the field and cannot be purchased in time.
Old sugarcane fields, Nghe An farmers are anxious because they have not been cut down and sold yet, sugar companies say that farmers are not complying with the contract.
Can't sit still waiting to be bought
Although it was possible to harvest since November last year, Ms. Tran Thi Le in Vinh Hung village, Tam Dinh commune, Anh Son has only been able to cut and sell 1 hectare of sugarcane so far. Frustrated because the sugarcane has shown signs of being spongy, Ms. Le said: This year, the sugarcane crop was good, but if left for too long, the sugarcane will gradually dry out, compared to nearly 2 months ago, the yield will be reduced by 30-40%.
“Every year, after the full moon of January, the sugarcane is almost cut and sold, but this year it is too late. Not only will the yield be lost, but if harvested too late, when the sugarcane sprouts and is exposed to the sun, it will wither and grow poorly, and the next season will yield less,” Ms. Le said impatiently.
Not only this year, but for many years now, every time the sugarcane harvest season comes, the chaotic situation of fighting for purchase, fighting for sale, and broken contracts between sugarcane companies and people has occurred.
The alluvial area along the Lam River of Tam Dinh Commune has a sugarcane growing area of over 200 hectares, belonging to the raw material area of Song Lam Sugarcane Joint Stock Company. Up to now, 145 hectares have been harvested, but only nearly 100 hectares of which have been purchased by the company, the rest have been forced to be sold outside.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Que - Chairman of Tam Dinh Commune People's Committee, people are impatient because the sugarcane has been past the harvest period for several months but has not been purchased yet, leading to the situation where people are looking for ways to sell it outside. The factory is slow to buy, drop by drop, in the same area, some households have bought it a month ago, while others have not been cut yet. There are even times when the harvested sugarcane has to be stored for 3-4 days before it can be unloaded, and at the factory, it is also congested for 3-4 days before the goods can be unloaded.
Currently, the remaining 60 hectares of sugarcane are being purchased in a limited and small quantity, making people very impatient because the longer the sugarcane is left at the base, the more the sugar content decreases and the higher the impurity fee.
A similar situation is also happening in the raw material areas of Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company. Duc Son Commune (Anh Son) currently has nearly 100 hectares of raw sugarcane. Mr. Tran Van Huy - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: People have been attached to growing raw materials for the factory for more than 10 years now, the situation of fighting to buy and sell sugarcane used to happen but this year is the most tense. With the above area, the sugarcane output each harvest is about 6,000 tons. In this year's crushing season, in the contract, the company committed to purchasing all sugarcane for people by the end of March, but by the beginning of March, only 20 hectares of sugarcane had been purchased, people were worried that the factory would not be able to purchase all of it before the committed time.
If the sugarcane were beautiful and standing, people would not be worried, but this year the rats have damaged too much, and the sugarcane in low-lying areas has fallen down. Currently, Duc Son has harvested more than 60 hectares of sugarcane, of which about 30% has been sold to private traders.
Mr. Tran Van Huy - Chairman of People's Committee of Duc Son commune, Anh Son district
Need a harmonious and fair solution
Anh Son district has nearly 1,200 hectares of sugarcane, of which 980 hectares belong to the raw material area of Song Lam Sugarcane Joint Stock Company, the remaining 200 hectares belong to Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company. According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Cuong - Deputy Head of the District's Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources: Although there is a purchase contract, the business and the people have not really "met" each other, the sustainability and legality of the contract have not really been complied with.
This situation is partly due to the fact that the factory's processing capacity has not met the demand; investment in capacity expansion is beyond the enterprise's capacity. Meanwhile, the purchasing method still has shortcomings, causing discomfort for the people. Enterprises need to develop a public and transparent purchasing plan and seriously implement the issuance of harvest orders to each region and each household in a reasonable manner.
Faced with the current reality, Mr. Phan Van Hoa - Deputy Director of Song Lam Sugarcane Joint Stock Company said: The sugarcane harvest season lasts at least until the 15th day of the third lunar month every year; the company's crushing season means that the sugarcane purchasing period also starts from the end of November 2024 to April 30, 2025. It is only mid-March now, so it cannot be said that the purchasing factory is behind schedule.
“Our production time each year is 120 - 140 days, we cannot just concentrate on pressing for a few months and then stop, and to have a reasonable source of raw materials, the company has arranged to grow early, medium and late ripening varieties. In particular, there are some sugarcane varieties such as LK9211 that can be left until May and June without flowering, the leaves are still green and do not affect productivity. However, the current pressure on us is that all farmers want to harvest before Tet, giving rise to a mentality of comparison between households and leading to the situation of selling sugarcane outside, causing insecurity in the raw material area”, Mr. Hoa shared.
According to Mr. Hoa, for the 2024-2025 crushing season, the Company purchased sugarcane one month earlier than the 2023-2024 crushing season even though the sugar content was still low, so all sugarcane would be purchased around March 30. However, Mr. Hoa also admitted that there were still shortcomings in the purchasing process.
The company's guiding principle is to harvest in a rolling manner depending on the sugarcane area ratio of each commune so that farmers can conveniently take care of, invest in, harvest, and transport. However, during the implementation process, which is carried out by the agricultural staff system in coordination with the hamlet chief (usually the representative signing the contract), there may be places where compliance is not properly observed. Learning from experience, in the future, when signing the contract, we will sign it at the household level, disseminate specific contents and terms so that people can understand clearly, and at the same time strictly implement the purchasing plan to ensure reasonableness and fairness for farmers.
Mr. Phan Van Hoa - Deputy Director of Song Lam Sugarcane Joint Stock Company
Recently, in the raw material area of Song Con Sugar Factory in Tan Ky district, a similar situation has occurred, when up to now, the enterprise has only purchased 48-55% of the total standing sugarcane area. Especially in key communes such as Giai Xuan, Tan Xuan, Tan Hop..., the purchase has only reached 50%. In response to this situation, the People's Committee of Tan Ky district has issued a document directing and requesting the enterprise to speed up the progress of purchasing raw sugarcane for local people.
