Economy

Betel nut prices in Nghe An province are soaring, and the purchasing market is bustling.

Annam • September 28, 2024 16:53

The price of betel nuts has nearly doubled compared to the beginning of the season, betel nut purchasing is quite active in localities, and betel nut drying facilities are also operating busily.

bna_1(1).jpg — Areca palms are widely grown in the districts of Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, Anh Son, Do Luong, Tan Ky, etc. Many households plant 300-500 trees. Currently, people mainly grow areca palm varieties, such as tall areca palms and dwarf areca palms, among which the areca palm with continuous chambers that bear fruit year-round is favored by many gardeners. Photo: Huy Thu

bna_2(1).jpg — Areca palms are not only grown in rows in home gardens as a monoculture, but also intercropped along pond banks and village roads. This year's areca palm harvest wasn't bountiful, but the prices were quite good. At the beginning of the season, areca palms were priced at 40,000 - 45,000 VND/kg, and by mid-September, the price had increased to 70,000 - 75,000 VND/kg. Photo: Huy Thu

bna_3(1).jpg — Betel nut prices are soaring, and the betel nut trade is booming. People who work as betel nut pickers and buyers are scouring various localities for supplies. Besides buying entire orchards in advance, paying a deposit, and then picking the nuts when they are large, betel nut pickers also visit individual houses and orchards to inspect the nuts for immediate purchase, picking them on the spot, weighing them, and calculating the price. (Photo: Huy Thư)

bna_4(2).jpg — Nowadays, betel nut pickers often use poles with sickles attached, standing on the ground or on ladders to harvest the bunches. Tran Van Quan (30 years old), a long-time betel nut climber in Nam Son commune (Do Luong district), shared: “Although betel nut climbing is a profession, lately I’ve been using poles and standing on the ground to harvest the bunches for safety, instead of climbing up, twisting the branches, and swinging from branch to branch like before.” (Photo: Huy Thu)

bna_5(1).jpg — A betel nut tree typically yields 4-5 bunches per season. Only 1-2 bunches per tree can be harvested at a time, and harvesters select the largest bunches. If the betel nuts are sold too unripe, resulting in small, light nuts, the orchard owner suffers a loss. Therefore, betel nut growers usually wait until the nuts are fully grown before selling them. However, sometimes smaller nuts fetch a good price, while larger nuts lose value. (Photo: Huy Thư)

Nowadays, people who work as betel nut pickers usually equip themselves with a specialized pole made of stainless steel or aluminum (priced from 400,000 to 1,000,000 VND) that can be extended or folded for transport. When picking betel nuts, they carefully anticipate where the bunch will fall to catch it, preventing it from hitting the ground. Photo: Huy Thu

According to betel nut pickers, this year's betel nut harvest has seen many trees bearing abundant bunches of fruit, but most are barren. Sometimes, they spend time picking bunches from a dozen trees, only to find there aren't enough large nuts to buy. Tran Trong Duc (41 years old), a betel nut picker in Thuan Son commune (Do Luong district), shared: "Buying betel nuts in remote areas is difficult and expensive, but the price is lower, and we make a profit." (Photo: Huy Thu)

The price of betel nuts is 10-12 times higher than in 2023, with many betel nut growers in the province earning hundreds of millions of dong from selling the fruit. Ms. Nguyen Thi Dan from Thanh Nho commune (Thanh Chuong district) said that her family grows over 300 betel nut trees and earned 47 million dong from selling the fruit in the first half of the year. From July until now, they have sold an additional 400 kg of betel nuts from the main harvest. Yesterday, September 27th, she and her husband harvested 110 kg and sold it to traders at the garden for 70,000 dong/kg. This betel nut season, her family also sold 600 betel nut seedlings (25,000 dong/plant). Photo: Huy Thu

With the rising price of betel nuts, many people are taking advantage of their free time during the agricultural off-season to rush to harvest and buy them. They not only "hunt" for betel nuts within the district but also travel to neighboring districts or to Huong Son and Duc Tho (Ha Tinh province) to find them. Some betel nut harvesters also act as collectors, bringing the harvested nuts back to purchasing centers. Photo: Huy Thu

bna_10..jpg — Mr. Nguyen Huu Hung, the owner of a betel nut purchasing facility in Thanh Tien commune, said: "These days, my facility buys 1.5 tons of betel nuts daily from many people who harvest them in the area." According to Mr. Hung, the price of betel nuts reached 75,000 VND/kg last week, but has now dropped. The price of betel nuts fluctuates erratically depending on Chinese traders. Photo: Huy Thu

During this period, betel nut drying facilities in the districts of Anh Son, Do Luong, Thanh Chuong, etc., are operating at full capacity. According to the person in charge of a betel nut drying facility in Thanh Tien commune (Thanh Chuong), after boiling, the betel nuts are put into a wood-fired drying oven, with each batch drying about 16 tons. It takes 5 days and nights of continuous drying to complete one batch. The finished dried betel nuts are then transported directly to the facility by Chinese traders. Photo: Huy Thu

Harvesting betel nuts. Video: Huy Thu

Annam