Onion farmers in Nghe An suffer heavy losses due to falling prices

Low prices have forced Nghi Loc onion growers to lose 5 - 7 million VND/sao. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The entire Nghi Lam commune (Nghi Loc) currently has 103 hectares of shallots, with an estimated yield of up to 1,000 tons. Shallots are consideredstaple crop, is a “hunger eradication and poverty reduction” plant that enriches the people of this semi-mountainous region. With the same price as every year, on average, each sao of onions people earn 12-17 million VND, net profit 5-7 million VND/sao, many times higher than growing rice and other crops. However, this year, onion prices have dropped dramatically, causing many difficulties for growers.

According to calculations by onion growers, for each sao of onions they have to spend about 8-10 million VND to invest in seeds, fertilizers, pine leaves, rice husks to cover onions, and pesticides. That is not to mention the 8 months of care and harvesting. With the current price of 13,000 VND - 14,000 VND/kg, onion growers lose 4-5 million VND/sao.

Mr. Nguyen Sy Cuong, an onion grower in hamlet 8, Nghi Lam commune, said: "The Nghi Lam onion growing area has been recognized as meeting VietGAP standards with good quality and beautiful appearance, but I don't understand why the price is so high."shallotsThis year is so low. At the beginning of the season, the price was 20,000 VND/kg, then gradually decreased to 18,000 VND/kg and now it is only 14,000 VND/kg. Compared to the 2020 onion crop, the price at the beginning of the season was 45,000 VND/kg, the main crop was 28,000 VND - 30,000 VND/kg, the onion price has decreased sharply. At this price, growers are losing heavily.

With no outlet, harvested onions pile up at people's homes. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Not only has the price dropped sharply, but the current difficult problem is that there are no buyers for the harvested onions. Onions are piled up in the house, in the yard, and everywhere there is a strong onion smell.

Ms. Tran Thi Thu, a resident of Hamlet 8, Nghi Lam, sighed: “My family grows 3 sao of onions, if we harvest all of them, it will be nearly 2 tons, but since the beginning of the season, we have only sold 30kg. The price is too cheap, selling them is a loss, and there are no buyers. Unfortunately, this tuber is not as filling as potatoes or rice; it also cannot be used as animal feed like cabbage or kohlrabi, and it is also difficult to preserve…”.

The price is low and the market is sluggish, so onion growers are not interested in harvesting. The onion fields have wilted, many plots of onions are too old to reach the ground, and the bulbs have turned green. To limit the onion color change and reduce the quality, households have to buy rice husks to spread on the onion beds. "Accepting the loss but still having no output, now adding the cost of buying rice husks to cover the onions, each sao costs an additional 300,000 VND for rice husks, not including the labor days, it is really "reluctant", said Ms. Ho Xuan Huong.

To limit onion discoloration and quality loss, Nghi Lam (Nghi Loc) farmers are forced to buy rice husks to cover the onion beds. Photo: Thanh Phuc

When asked why the price of shallots has dropped, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hai, a trader specializing in purchasing shallots in Nghi Loc, said: “It is not due to the Covid-19 epidemic because in 2020, the epidemic broke out but the price of shallots was still high (28,000 VND/kg), now it has dropped by half even though this year's shallots are big and beautiful. Onion consumption is very slow, the sources have stopped purchasing, so we do not dare to buy for the people. Every year, we buy 3-4 tons of shallots every day, we have to go to each household to collect the shallots, but this year, the people who brought them to buy had to refuse. In my opinion, the reason is that when people in other localities saw the economic efficiency of growing shallots, they also planted a lot, and harvested at the same time, leading to congestion and stockpiling of shallots."

Corn is intercropped on unharvested onion fields. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The onions were not harvested, so people missed the time to plant corn. “By now, the onions should have been harvested and people would have started planting corn. But now, it will be more than a month before people can finish digging up the onions. Many households are impatient and have planted corn along the sides of the onion rows. The corn has grown high but the onions have not been harvested yet, making it difficult to take care of the corn,” said Ms. Le Thi Duyen, a civil servant of the Department of Land, Agriculture, Environment and Construction of Nghi Lam Commune.

Unable to find a market for their onions, people had to leave them in the fields and rely on traders, hoping that in the coming days, prices would increase and their losses would decrease...

Thanh Phuc