Lemon growers in Nam Dan are struggling because of falling prices.

Ms. Tong Thi Hanh (50 years old) in Hamlet 10, Nam Loc Commune said that her family grows over 300 lemon trees, and every year the main lemon season yields about 4-5 tons of fruit. This year, the wholesale price of lemons at the beginning of the season was 8-10 thousand VND/kg, but after a few days, the price of lemons dropped dramatically. Currently, the wholesale price of good lemons in the garden is only 3,000 VND/kg, and the price of bad lemons depends on the type, and they are sold at 1,500 VND/kg in general, but it is still very difficult to sell.

The lemon hills in Nam Dan have a good harvest but currently no one is coming to buy them. Photo: Huy Thu

Main-season lemons in Nam Dan are selling for 1,500 - 3,000 VND/kg. Photo: Huy Thu

Low prices and sluggish sales are common difficulties for lemon growers on the right bank of the Lam River. Ms. Pham Thi Tam in Hamlet 4 - Khanh Son 1, Khanh Son Commune said that her family has 300 lemon trees, which have been sold wholesale to traders since the beginning of the season and have not sold out yet. The low price of lemons has been squeezed by traders in all directions, and transporting them to the market to sell them does not have enough money for gas. In general, the harvest of this lemon crop is not enough to cover the costs.

Khanh Son commune has 22/29 hamlets growing lemons, of which hamlet 3 has the largest number of households growing lemons, with more than 100 hectares; each household has from several sao to several hectares of lemons. Mr. Nguyen Van Thang's family has been growing lemons for 15 years now, currently in the garden there are 1,000 lemon trees that have been harvested, each main lemon crop, about 15 tons of fruit are harvested. In the past, due to slow wholesale sales, he and his wife had to pick lemons and bring them to the markets for consumption, however, each market session they only sold 5 - 7 yen. Up to now, in his garden there are still about 5 tons of lemons.

According to Mr. Thang, even though the price is cheap, lemon growers still have to pick and sell the lemons to make a little profit. If they see the price is cheap and keep the lemons on the tree, the fruit will turn yellow and fall off. Moreover, they also have to harvest the lemons to save the trees, to preserve their strength for the next season.

With an area of ​​hundreds of hectares, each crop supplying the market with thousands of tons of fruit, lemon is the main crop of some communes such as Nam Loc, Nam Kim, Khanh Son... of Nam Dan district.

The story of good harvest but low price for Nam Dan lemons has been going on for many years now, however, the price of lemons has never dropped to 1,500 VND/kg like now. Although the main season lemons have a large output, they do not bring high income to lemon growers and are gradually becoming a "bad crop". In recent years, because the main season lemons are too cheap, some lemon growers in the communes are not interested in investing.

Lemons fell all over the garden of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thien in Hamlet 10, Nam Loc Commune. Photo: Huy Thu

The problem of output for lemon trees, to overcome the situation of good harvest but low price for a long time, has not seen any agency, department or sector supporting farmers.

Mr. Nguyen Khac Huong - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Nam Loc commune, worried: "Local lemon consumption depends on the market, the commune has no connection or effective measures to support output for farmers"./.