Bustling new peanut season

(Baonghean) -Coming to Hamlet 11a, Dien Thinh Commune (Dien Chau), these days, right from the beginning of the village, the sound of peanut grinding machines and the sound of car engines collecting peanuts is bustling. In the late afternoon, motorbikes loaded with sacks of peanuts go back and forth to the village. It is currently the time when Dien Thinh people stay up with peanuts, every household makes peanuts, every person makes peanuts.

Talking to a resident of Hamlet 11, Dien Thinh, she said that everyone here makes peanuts, except for the elderly and children. Visiting the house of Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh (Hamlet 11a), the house and yard were filled with peanuts. While unloading goods from the pickup truck with the workers, Mr. Hanh was sweating but happily said: Since the beginning of the season, my family has sold over 10 tons of peanuts. Having been in this profession for over 5 years, it is a bit hard but fun, the income is enough to cover daily expenses and save a little. Asked about the price, he said that the price is currently going down, at the beginning of the season it was 37-38 million VND/ton but now it is down to 33-34 million VND/ton of peanuts. This price is not high but still more stable than last year.

Peanut selection service creates jobs for many idle agricultural workers
in Dien Thinh.

At Ms. Luong Tien's house, the atmosphere is even more bustling. Behind the house, there are 2 continuous grinding machines. Inside the house, the yard and warehouse are about a few hundred square meters wide, over 30 local workers are working, some are sifting peanuts by machine, some are selecting peanuts by hand, another group is in charge of packaging, outside the yard, Ms. Tien is weighing peanuts for the people. She said that since the beginning of the peanut season, her family has sold over 30 tons of peanuts. Buying shelled peanuts costs about 24-25 million VND/ton, importing to local businesses at the price of grade 1 peanuts is 36-37 million VND/ton, unselected peanuts are about 32 million VND/ton at the beginning of the season. Currently, the price is not like that but there is still a profit. She added that 2 days ago, there were trucks coming to pick up the goods every day, but for the past 2 days, there have been none. However, she is still collecting goods to wait for sale. According to her, from previous years’ experience, when the output stagnated, many households did not collect goods, so in the end when customers came, there was no goods to sell, which was a pity. Asking Ms. Hoa, who is about 50 years old this year - a worker at Mr. Tien's house, she said that she was paid 60-70,000 VND per day for selecting peanuts. It was summer, her children all participated, the three of them earned 200,000 VND per day, enough money to prepare for the new school year.

Mr. Cao Ngoc Thang - Vice Chairman of Dien Thinh Commune People's Committee said that the total agricultural area of ​​the commune is 509 hectares, of which 432 hectares are mainly used for peanut production. Dien Thinh farmers have many years of experience in peanut production, 100% of peanuts are covered with plastic, so the productivity is generally higher than the average of the province, reaching 31.6 quintals/ha, the total output is 1,365.4 tons of shelled peanuts. Most households in the commune, especially hamlets 11a and 11b, participate in making peanuts, spreading to districts in the province and Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, and Quang Binh provinces to collect goods. In addition, there are 13 establishments along National Highway 1A in the area that trade in agricultural products, of which the main product is peanuts. According to the statistics from the Dien Thinh Commune People's Credit Fund, the current outstanding loan balance for peanut services has reached 49.5 billion VND, not to mention the local people's own capital of about 100 billion VND to "run peanuts". The peanut season in Dien Thinh creates hundreds of jobs for workers during the off-season.

According to research, up to now, an estimated 3,500 tons of peanuts have been sold to traders at the Vietnam-China border, reaching a turnover of more than 6 million USD. Most of the above goods were collected by Dien Chau traders from other districts in the province and outside the province. Peanuts produced in Dien Chau are almost temporarily stored in people's homes waiting for prices.

Like every year, right from the beginning of this year's harvest, some traders have entered Nghe An to purchase peanuts for unofficial export across the Vietnam-China border. Meanwhile, official exports are facing difficulties. Thai chili Pearrnut Trader Co., Ltd. (Thailand) - a major customer of Nghe An peanut exporting enterprises for many years, has not yet had any transactions with any enterprises in the province. Mr. Vo Minh Tuan - Deputy Head of Import-Export Management Department of the Department of Industry and Trade said that some enterprises specializing in traditional peanut exports have also had transactions with customers from other ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia... but no contracts have been signed because the price of Nghe An peanuts is higher than that of India. And currently, there have been no enterprises from other provinces entering Nghe An to exploit peanuts for export.

In the spring crop of 2012, the whole province planted 17,513 hectares of peanuts, reaching 82% of the plan. The yield reached 22 quintals/ha, for peanuts covered with plastic, in some places it reached 28 quintals/ha. The total output is estimated at 40,000 tons of shelled peanuts. After deducting about 30% for seeds and domestic consumption (equivalent to 12,000 tons), the remaining output is about 28,000 tons converted into peanuts, reaching 14,000 tons for export. Unlike previous years, this year the peanut harvest was 15-30 days later due to the April leap, especially in the midland and mountainous districts such as Tan Ky, Quy Hop, Anh Son, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan. Due to the influence of prolonged heat, some peanut areas in the rooting stage withered, many areas were burned. Heavy rain at the end of the crop flooded some areas, so the quality of peanuts this year was generally worse than last year. However, according to calculations, 1 hectare yields about 28 quintals, with an average price of 2.2 million VND/quintal, earning over 61 million VND. After deducting costs (seeds, fertilizers, plastic, labor...), the profit is over 25 million VND/ha.

Thu Huyen