Bustling fishing and vegetable villages at the end of the year

((Baonghean) - During Tet, the atmosphere of production and trading in the fishing and vegetable villages in Quynh Luu becomes bustling. The fishing village has good prices, the vegetable village has a good harvest... People in the fish and vegetable areas are excited to prepare for a more prosperous Tet.

Fishing village is expensive

At the end of this year, when the indirect impact of the environmental incident in the central sea has been somewhat overcome, consumer confidence has returned, and people in the fishing villages in Quynh Luu have become somewhat more optimistic. Happy because the sea exploitation season has been good, so shrimp, fish, and squid all have quite high yields. Happy because as the traditional New Year approaches, seafood prices have increased.

Fisherman Le Xuan Hang, Phu Lien village, Quynh Long commune (Quynh Luu) - crew member of fishing boat NA 97568 TS excitedly said: 3 weeks before Tet, newly caught mackerel was only over 200,000 VND/kg, until 2 weeks before Tet, mackerel was over 280,000 VND/kg but there was no sale... In the last months of the year, there was a strong monsoon so each boat could only go out to sea once. However, on this trip, each boat caught 20 tons of fish, earning nearly 500 million VND, after deducting expenses, each boat member earned from 7 to 8 million VND.

The seafood processing industry is equally exciting. Tan An fish sauce village, An Hoa commune has 80 professional fish sauce producing households and about 30 small-scale production households. Mr. Duong Ha Nam - owner of Nam Nghia fish sauce production facility, An Hoa commune said: To meet the needs of customers, currently, his family's facility is mobilizing all workers and family members to work day and night, urgently bottling 200,000 liters of first-class fish sauce for customers from Vinh, Hanoi, Thai Nguyen to come and sell during Tet.

Lach Quen fishing port in harvest season

Quynh Luu fish sauce products are famous for their deliciousness, and so are frozen and dried products. During Tet, frozen and dried product facilities in Quynh Luu are busy preparing dozens of tons of goods. Famous products such as grilled mackerel, sun-dried mackerel, dried squid, sun-dried squid, yellowstripe scad, redstripe scad, shrimp, dried anchovies, dried mussels, etc. are all products with very high consumption during Tet.

Compared to normal days, the price of dried squid has increased by about 50,000 - 100,000 VND/kg, dried squid costs from 500,000 - 650,000 VND/kg, dried shrimp costs from 650,000 - 700,000 VND/kg, grade 1 yellowstripe scad costs 150,000 VND/kg, dried shrimp costs 80,000 VND/kg... Ms. Nguyen Thi Sam - owner of An Sam frozen seafood dealer, Quynh Nghia commune said: "Normally we sell 50 - 60 kg of all kinds a day, but this Tet holiday, we sell more, especially squid, fish, and shrimp. Last year, prices only increased after January, but this year they have increased since the 11th lunar month...".

In 2016, Quynh Luu district produced nearly 7,000 tons of various types of seafood, including dried seafood, grilled fish, frozen fish, 4.7 million liters of fish sauce, dozens of tons of shrimp paste, and a large amount of fresh seafood exported to Laos and China. To ensure food safety, Quynh Luu district and communes have actively participated.

Mr. Hoang Son - Vice Chairman of Son Hai Commune People's Committee affirmed: Currently, aquatic and seafood products serving people during Tet are very rich and diverse, with people proactively sourcing goods from previous months. On the side of the local government, many teams have been established to inspect food safety and hygiene for processing and trading households; contributing to ensuring that Tet goods of local people always ensure quality, with the typical flavor of Quynh coastal area.

The production atmosphere at Tan An fish sauce village becomes bustling during Tet.

Vegetable village with good harvest

Tet is coming, the vegetable villages of Quynh Luong, Quynh Bang, and Quynh Minh communes are also in the harvest season. In the winter-spring crop, the whole Quynh Luu district has organized the production of 1,800 hectares of vegetables, of which nearly 1,000 hectares are for the Tet market... In the Quynh Luu vegetable fields these days, the harvest atmosphere is very bustling.

Ms. Nguyen Thi An, in Quynh Minh commune, quickly harvested nearly 3 sao of cauliflower and shared: The weather is favorable so the vegetables grow well. Recently, the family planted 3 sao of cauliflower with 6,000 plants, and has now harvested over 2,000 plants. The remaining will be sold on the days before and after Tet. With the current purchase price of 4,000 VND/flower at the field, the family is estimated to earn over 20 million VND.

At the end of the year, the weather is cool and there is little rain, so Quynh Luu farmers have planted many vegetable varieties that are popular with consumers during Tet. Mr. Ho Canh Bang, in Quynh Luong commune, grows 3 sao of vegetables such as green onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and cabbage. So far, his family has harvested the second crop of vegetables for Tet. He estimates that he will harvest 1.5 tons of lettuce, 1 ton of chrysanthemum greens, and nearly 3,000 cauliflowers. If sold until close to Tet, his family will earn nearly 50 million VND in profit.

Before Tet, the price of lettuce sold in the field was 3,000 VND/kg; cabbage 2,000 - 3,000 VND/kg; chrysanthemum greens 3,000 VND/kg; cabbage 5,000 - 7,000 VND/kg... Compared to the price of vegetables during the 2015 - 2016 Tet season, this year's vegetables are almost half the price. Due to favorable weather, most vegetable growing areas have had a good harvest, vegetables are abundant, so some northern provinces such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh... who used to import vegetables from coastal people have now limited their purchases.

Now the main market for vegetables is Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and the South. Although the prices are low, traders come to the fields to buy from farmers as soon as they are harvested; on average, the coastal vegetable area supplies the market with hundreds of tons of vegetables of all kinds every day, with dozens of trucks transporting them across the North and South.

Quynh Luong vegetable village has a good harvest, traders buy vegetables right in the fields.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tue - Chairman of Quynh Luong Commune People's Committee said: The whole commune has 250 hectares of specialized vegetable growing area. In order to meet the demand for clean vegetables for the market during the days before Tet, people expanded 50 hectares to grow vegetables. In 2016, the commune's vegetable output reached over 20 thousand tons, with a revenue of over 100 billion VND...

Along with some vegetables supplying the Tet market, at this time, people are also harvesting green onions in the joy of a good harvest and good prices, with the purchase price at the field at 9,000 VND/kg, the highest ever. On average, a farmer growing 1 sao of green onions will achieve nearly 2 tons, earning a profit of 15 million VND/sao. Localities hope that before Tet, vegetables will be purchased at a higher price, so that vegetable growers can have a prosperous and warm Tet.

T. Son - T. Toan