Ky Son: Overripe ginger has no output
(Baonghean) “Two or three years ago, the ginger harvest season was like a festival. People went to the fields to dig up as much as they could and they were all bought. Growing ginger and selling it for a lot of money made the villagers very excited. However, since before Tet until now, there have been no buyers even though the price has dropped very low. Now the ginger is old, past the harvest season, and only occasionally do people order small quantities, and the villagers do not know who to sell the ginger to,” said Mr. Va Giong Chua, Head of Tham Hin Village, Nam Can - Ky Son.
(Baonghean) “Two or three years ago, the ginger harvest season was like a festival. People went to the fields to dig up as much as they could and they were all bought. Growing ginger and selling it for a lot of money made the villagers very excited. However, since before Tet until now, there have been no buyers even though the price has dropped very low. Now the ginger is old, past the harvest season, and only occasionally do people order small quantities, and the villagers do not know who to sell the ginger to,” said Mr. Va Giong Chua, Head of Tham Hin Village, Nam Can - Ky Son.
Witnessing many ginger fields with yellow and fallen leaves, only the roots remain, I understand more about the feelings of the ginger growers here.
Ginger was once considered a key crop to help people escape poverty in Nam Can commune - Ky Son, and was widely grown in fields where rice no longer yielded. Growing ginger gave stable yields and high prices (usually 7,000 - 10,000 VND/kg, sometimes up to 17,000 VND/kg), so many households expanded their acreage and many families earned tens, even hundreds of millions of VND after the ginger crop.
Ginger harvested in Nam Can has no buyers.
However, since last year, ginger growers in Nam Can have been in a state of constant anxiety. The ginger is past the harvest season but there are no buyers, even though the price is cheap, only 3,000 - 4,000 VND/kg. Ginger can only be harvested after 1 year, if left until the following year, the yield will decrease because the old roots will decompose on their own.
According to statistics, the whole commune currently has about 60 hectares of ginger plantations concentrated in 4 villages: Nam Can, Huoi Nhao, Lien Son and Tham Hin. All of these ginger plantations are past the harvest season. A household in Nam Can, after visiting the ginger plantation, complained: "After the harvest time, ginger roots are like rotten firewood. I hope someone will soon buy ginger so that the villagers will suffer less."
Thang Binh - Muong Xen - Ky Son