Nghe An: Many types of green vegetables hit rock bottom, 1,000 VND/kg

Vegetable growers lose money

In the first days of the new year, people in vegetable growing areas in the province such as Quynh Luu, Dien Chau... are harvesting the last crops of the Winter - Spring crop.

However, after the Lunar New Year, many types of vegetables and fruits on the market have dropped sharply in price, making people "restless". The prices are too low, and traders have also limited their purchases, so people have had to sell them off, or leave them unattended, even uprooting them in piles in the corners of the fields.

In the specialized vegetable field in the coastal area of ​​Quynh Luu district, this is the largest vegetable and fruit granary in the province, nearly 600 hectares, with hundreds of households producing intensively.

According to local people, before Tet, the price of vegetables such as cabbage, kohlrabi, cauliflower, chrysanthemum, various kinds of mustard greens, lettuce... was 2,000 VND/kg, but after Tet, the price began to drop dramatically, down to the lowest level of 1,000 VND/kg, and there were even no buyers, leading to over-ripe vegetables. Only tomatoes were 4,000 - 5,000 VND/kg, green onions were 3,000 - 4,000 VND/kg.

Mr. Ho Than Yen in Hamlet 2, Minh Luong Commune sadly said that this season his family cultivated 2 sao of tomatoes, 1 sao of cauliflower and 0.8 sao of celery. Due to favorable weather this year, vegetables grew strongly, but in return, prices were unstable and the consumption market was difficult.

After Tet, cauliflower was sold in the field for 1,000 VND/plant (1.2 - 1.3 kg/plant), celery was only 1,000 VND/kg, and only occasionally did traders order a few hundred thousand, so up to now, 1/4 of the cauliflower plants have not been sold, leading to over-harvesting, many plants have flowered, and no one buys them.

"1 sao of cauliflower can grow 1,000 plants, the current purchase price from traders only brings in 1 million VND; 1 sao of cabbage with the highest yield of 5 tons, sold at 1,000 VND/kg, brings in 5 million VND. The price is too low, only enough to cover the cost of land preparation, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides... but there is no care or profit," Mr. Yen expressed.

While carrying several baskets of lettuce to dump, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc in Minh Luong commune said that this winter her family planted nearly 1 sao of lettuce to supply the market. But the price was too low, only 1,000 VND/kg, so she did not bother to harvest, but pulled it out to switch to other crops.

"The money from selling does not make up for the seeds, fertilizers or care. Besides, consumption is also very difficult, traders are limited in purchasing. Retail sales are not much, there are days when I cut it up and sit at the market all day but no one buys it, so I have to bring it home and throw it away," Ms. Ngoc sadly shared.

Source of "oversupply"

Ms. Ho Thi Y, a vegetable and fruit trader in Minh Luong commune, said that the reason for the sharp price drop in vegetables before and after Tet is because the supply in the market is too much, while the output is reduced. Previously, she bought and sold tons of vegetables every day, but this time she can only sell 2-3 quintals of vegetables of all kinds. Because there are a lot of vegetables left in the fields, traders choose to buy beautiful vegetable and fruit fields for easy consumption.

Observations on the fields of the coastal area of ​​Quynh Luu district show that there are quite a lot of vegetables that are ready to be harvested, the most of which are tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, etc. Even though they are ready to be harvested, they are still not purchased. Therefore, many vegetable patches are not cared for, leading to withering.

Tomatoes are a product that is still quite abundant in the fields of Quynh Luu district. Observations show that although tomatoes are ripe red on the tree, people harvest them in small amounts. Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh in Hamlet 8, Minh Luong Commune said: His family planted 3 sao of tomatoes (Nong Huu tomato variety), after more than 3 months of care, they started to harvest near Tet.

However, unlike the same period last year, when traders bought at 8,000 VND/kg, now it is only 4,000 - 5,000 VND/kg, but consumption is slow, causing tomatoes to ripen in bulk but still cannot be harvested. Each day, traders only order 2 - 3 quintals, while the selling demand must be 1 ton/day. With this selling price, tomato growers have a little profit, but if the price is reduced further, they will suffer a loss.

According to data from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu district, this Winter - Spring crop, farmers in the district cultivate about 1,177 hectares of vegetables, tubers, and fruits of all kinds, most concentrated in the coastal communes: Minh Luong, Quynh Bang, Phu Nghia...

In Dien Chau district, the situation of vegetables, tubers and fruits falling in price after Tet also occurred in localities. Mr. Le The Hieu - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: After Tet, the whole district still has about 300 hectares of vegetables, tubers and fruits of all kinds. In general, after Tet, green vegetables all have deep price drops and are difficult to sell.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc - Head of the Provincial Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection said that after Tet, the whole province still has about 10,000 hectares of winter vegetables, most concentrated in the localities of Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Nam Dan, Do Luong... The reason for the sharp drop in vegetable prices after Tet is because this year the weather is favorable, so vegetables grow well, with few pests and diseases, so the supply is abundant, while after Tet the consumption of vegetables stagnates./.