Lemon growers in Nam Dan are struggling because of the dramatic price drop.

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 season of lemons 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 beautiful lemons in the garden is only 3,000 VND/kg, while the price of ugly 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 are in a good season, but currently there are no buyers. Photo: Huy Thu

Main-season lemons in Nam Dan are being sold at prices ranging from 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 is not enough to pay 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 only sold 5 - 7 yen. Up to now, his garden still has about 5 tons of lemons.

According to Mr. Thang, even if 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 have to harvest to save the lemon trees, to preserve the lemons' 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 Nam Dan lemons with good harvests and low prices has been going on for many years now, but never before has the price of lemons fallen 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"./.