Vegetables are in season, prices are down

(Baonghean) -The price of green vegetables is so cheap that farmers in vegetable growing areas in Nghe An "cry and laugh" because they cannot give them away or sell them, and some households have to use them as green manure.

Quynh Luong farmers harvest green onions.

We returned to the "capital" of vegetables in Quynh Luong - Quynh Luu commune, from afar there were vast quantities of vegetables with an eye-catching green color. The atmosphere of buying and selling was quiet. Mr. Ho Duc Nhat - Head of Hamlet 1, Quynh Luong commune lamented: "All kinds of vegetables from kohlrabi, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, Chinese cabbage to spices, onions, coriander, onions... are in a big sale, the price is as cheap as giving away. Look, the price is 1,000 VND/head of kohlrabi, cabbage, 200 VND/kg of onions"... While last year's Tet was 15,000 VND/kg of onions and 6,000 - 8,000 VND/cabbage. Mr. Nhat added: "The most painful" is the Hanoi vegetables, kohlrabi, cabbage, even if given away, no one would take them, only green onions can be sold. My family alone grows 2 sao of vegetables, but now has cut down 1.5 sao to make green manure.

It turns out that this vegetable crop cost about 4 million VND including seeds, fertilizers, not to mention care, but it was a total loss because the price of vegetables was too cheap. Mr. Van Thoa confided: I have been involved in vegetable growing for many years, but I have never seen vegetables wasted like this year. Vegetables have a good harvest, but we vegetable growers have to suffer losses. Mr. Thoa grows over 2 sao of vegetables with an investment of about 3 million VND. Last year, during Tet, his family earned 15 million VND/year from 2 sao of vegetables, but now he can only sell about 1 million VND of green onions. It is known that in Hamlet 1, Quynh Luong, there were 26 hectares of vegetables, but people have destroyed over 20 hectares, leaving only over 5 hectares of green onions. Mr. Ho Duc, who specializes in buying vegetables in large quantities, said: Before, we bought over 15 tons of vegetables every day to markets in Hanoi, Hai Phong... but because we could not sell them, most of the traders had to stay at home.

Mr. Ho Canh Sau - Chairman of Quynh Luong Commune People's Committee shared: The whole Quynh Luong commune has nearly 200 hectares of vegetables, thanks to vegetables, many households in Quynh Luong have become rich. This year, the unexpectedly low prices have left vegetable growers in Quynh Luong unable to react. In addition to being good at growing vegetables, Quynh Luong also has a team of over 40 people specializing in purchasing vegetables for "transnational" trading. But because the prices of vegetables are low, these "small traders" cannot save the vegetable growers. Up to this point, Quynh Luong has destroyed over 170 hectares of vegetables, mainly Hanoi mustard greens, cabbage, kohlrabi... because they cannot be sold. The commune continues to encourage people to prepare the land to grow onions, because onions, even though they are cheap, are still being consumed, rather than leaving the land empty.

We went to Giat market and Quynh My market and saw rows of green vegetables piled up. Ms. Nguyen Thi Tinh in Giat town was fed up: The cabbages are so fresh and delicious, but from morning until now no one has asked a single question, and if they did, they would pay at most 1,000 VND for 3 cabbages, it's true that a hundred kilograms of vegetables cannot buy a kilo of meat. The story is as real as a joke, but in reality, it is happening in the city markets and the countryside markets, a sad reality: vegetables are dirt cheap but no one buys them.

We went to the vegetable area of ​​Dien Thanh commune - Dien Chau, the whole vegetable field was immense but only a few people were seen going to the field. Many households had to cut down cabbage and kohlrabi to plant peanuts. Mr. Minh in hamlet 10 said: "The whole vegetable area has been sluggish this year, the cabbage has exploded and had to be brought back to feed the pigs."

Discussing solutions to overcome difficulties in vegetable output, Mr. Phan Xuan Vinh - Head of the Department of Agriculture said: The whole Dien Chau district currently has about 600 hectares of green vegetables, mainly concentrated in the communes of Dien Thanh, Dien Xuan, Dien Ky, Dien Hanh... This year, due to favorable weather, most of the vegetables have a good crop, however, the price has dropped dramatically, causing difficulties for vegetable growers. To overcome difficulties for vegetable growers, it is necessary to focus on building vegetable fields that meet VietGap standards, because in fact, vegetables with the above certification are still easier to consume. Currently, the whole Dien Chau district only has over 10 hectares of vegetables in Dien Thanh that meet VietGap standards. Farmers are advised to focus on diversifying many types of vegetables for easier consumption.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dinh - Head of the Department of Agriculture of Quynh Luu district explained: The reason for the surprisingly low vegetable prices is that after the historic flooding at the end of last year, the entire vegetable area of ​​Quynh Luu was damaged, people in the specialized vegetable growing area and the vegetable area on the 2-rice land simultaneously restored and planted vegetables on over 800 hectares, of which 600 hectares were in the coastal area. Not planting in a spread-out crop, so harvesting at the same time caused the amount of vegetables to not be able to be consumed in time, leading to a situation of output congestion. This is also a lesson for Quynh Luu to direct people to focus on planting in a spread-out crop next season, avoiding the situation of harvesting large quantities at the same time. To find outlets for vegetables, tubers and fruits, Quynh Luu continues to implement measures to continue expanding the area of ​​​​growing clean VietGap vegetables, because in fact, Quynh Luu has over 10 hectares of clean vegetables certified by VietGap in Quynh Luong, which have been consumed in hotels in Hanoi, over 50 tons of vegetables/year. Planning concentrated, large-scale production areas facilitates intensive farming by farmers, actively calling for businesses to invest in clean vegetable production and consumption of vegetable products. Promoting the role of collective economy according to the cooperative model to absorb science and technology investment programs, popularizing the application of science and technology to production to people, and these are also the main channels connecting farmers and the market.

Van Truong