Quynh Lien Commune (Hoang Mai Town): Lessons from the sluggish chayote crop

(Baonghean) - From a few effective production seasons, people in Quynh Lien commune (Hoang Mai town) spontaneously expanded the area of ​​chayote plants to 70 hectares, but by this season, the output was too much, purchasing power decreased, and the price was only 200 VND/kg. It was painful to let hundreds of tons of chayote fall to the ground, this is a lesson that needs to be thoroughly considered in commodity production...

At first, many families earned several hundred million dong from growing chayote.

Introduced to the area five or seven years ago, chayote has proven to be a very suitable crop for the soil of Quynh Lien commune (Hoang Mai town). About 3-4 years ago, at its peak, the price of chayote was about 10,000 VND/kg and at that time, the commune had about 30-40 hectares, bringing in billions of VND in revenue each year, of which many families earned several hundred million VND/year from growing chayote. Mr. Ho Van Thuyet, an agricultural and forestry officer of Quynh Lien commune, said: At that time, chayote was a lifesaver for Quynh Lien agriculture because it helped change the crop structure and increase the crop season. However, in the past few years, with the area of ​​chayote constantly increasing, during the Lunar New Year, along with reduced consumption demand, chayote suffered a miserable price drop. However, the current sluggish situation and low prices are at a record low, only 200 VND/kg (as of March 10).

According to some households, compared to the average of previous years, the lowest price was maintained at 700 - 1,000 VND/kg, but for the whole month, the price was only 200 VND/kg. To cover costs and have a little profit, the price of chayote must be at least 1,000 to 1,200 VND/kg. With the current price, many people accept letting the fruit fall to make fertilizer instead of collecting it to sell again, which costs a few hundred thousand VND more for transportation and packaging. The characteristic of chayote is that the fruit is produced continuously, if not harvested, the tree must be shaken to make the fruit fall because if there are too many fruits, they will be heavy and collapse the trellis and affect the next crop. The common way of households is to accept selling cheaply or letting the fruit fall to collect it as food for cows and pigs or as green manure to fertilize the plants for the next crop.

The reason why the price of chayote in Quynh Lien has dropped to a record low is because there are no buyers. The Lunar New Year is the time when workers in major markets in the North and South take time off to return home for Tet, and means of transport stop operating, so consumption has decreased significantly. Meanwhile, chayote plants, with good weather conditions, can harvest a crop of fruit every 3-5 days, causing the "supply" of chayote to be too much. Chayote plants are very suitable for Quynh Lien's land and are easy to care for, so they have very high yields, averaging 6-8 tons/sao, equivalent to about 140-150 tons/ha. At present, Quynh Lien commune people have expanded the area to 70 hectares, and every day Quynh Lien has 20-30 trucks carrying about 200-300 tons to sell elsewhere, but they are not sold out, and there is still a large amount of chayote left. Mr. Nguyen Van Uoc in Hamlet 5, who grows 5 sao of chayote, said: “This type of plant is grown annually from the 9th lunar month to March of the following year. With the current price, many households will not be able to cover the cost of seeds, fertilizer, trellis, and care. His family was lucky to sell the previous batches of fruit at nearly 1,000 VND/kg, so it was just enough to cover the cost. Since the price of chayote was at its lowest, the family has lost about 12 tons of chayote to use as animal feed or fertilizer.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Ho Van Duoc in hamlet 6, who grows the most chayote in Quynh Lien commune with 15 sao, said: “My family planted chayote 8 years ago, the peak year earned about 220 million VND, after deducting expenses, the profit was about 100 million VND. Chayote has contributed to the family's economy becoming prosperous, but this year the loss is heavy because the price of chayote is too low and few people want to buy, so we have to let the fruit fall, losing about 20 tons of fruit. Talking with some chayote buyers in the commune, we learned that the price of chayote imported at Hanoi market during Tet is about 400 VND/kg, which is not enough to cover transportation costs, they themselves want to buy and increase the price for people but cannot. This year, not only chayote but also some other vegetables in the commune are sluggish and the price is too cheap.

Mr. Ho Van Duoc (Hamlet 6, Quynh Lien Commune) collects chayote fruits to make fertilizer.

Mr. Ho Ngoc Tang, Vice Chairman of Quynh Lien Commune People's Committee, said: The advantage of chayote is that it has a relatively long shelf life (if the weather is cold, it can be kept for 7-10 days). However, because chayote is only used for eating and there is no way to process or preserve it, its consumption is very limited. The expansion of chayote growing area is due to households calculating the profit, but the commune has not had any planning or direction for the people. In previous years, the price was low but it was still 1,000 VND/kg so there was not much loss, but the current low price has never happened.

Surely, in the near future, many families in Quynh Lien will reduce the area of ​​chayote and switch to growing other more effective crops. But from this reality, lessons can be drawn for many other production areas. That is, the process of growing plants and animals needs to calculate between investment in production, livestock and product consumption, from which there is a plan for production area and appropriate structure, avoiding the phenomenon of "good harvest, low price". Even local authorities need to coordinate with functional sectors and businesses to research and predict the market to have timely recommendations for farmers in production development... Besides, chayote growers also need to be proactive and flexible, being able to harvest chayote shoots as clean vegetables is also a significant source of income, reducing losses when chayote prices are at risk of falling sharply.

Nguyen Hai