Green vegetables in Nghe An increase in price after lifting social distancing order

Returning to Quynh Luu vegetable village after the social distancing order was lifted, the production atmosphere in the fields began to bustle again. People went to the fields to harvest vegetables and at the same time restore production to start the new season.

Ms. Ho Thi Tam in Quynh Luong commune grows 3 sao of vegetables including scallions and tomatoes, harvested just in time for social distancing. Although the vegetables are difficult to sell, causing loss of income for her family, this is understandable for her in the context of a complicated epidemic, when people limit going to the market to buy and sell.

People in Quynh Luong commune (Quynh Luu) harvest green onions after the end of social distancing. Photo: Viet Hung

“For nearly a month, we had to consume 3-4 times less vegetables than usual, resulting in a loss of about 5-7 million VND, but luckily, green onions and tomatoes are still ripening at this time and the harvest will last for another month. It is expected that if the market stabilizes, we will be able to make up for the capital affected during the epidemic,” said Ms. Tam.

Quynh Luong Commune has over 215 hectares of vegetable growing area with an output of nearly 7,000 tons/year. After nearly 1 month of implementing Directive 16, the amount of vegetables transported to markets in and outside the province is less than usual.

Normally, every day, local people harvest about ten tons of vegetables to transport to consume in the provinces and cities of the North and Central regions. During the implementation of Directive 16, because traders buy 2-3 times less, the prices of vegetables are also cheaper at this time.

But since April 23rd, all vegetables produced by people in Quynh Luu district have been purchased and collected by traders to transport to Hue, Da Nang, Vinh city... for consumption. The selling price has also started to increase from 2,000 - 4,000 VND/kg for each type. For example, the current purchase price of green onions at the field is 7,000 VND/kg (an increase of 2,000 - 3,000 VND/kg); tomatoes are 11,000 - 12,000 VND/kg; lettuce has increased to 4,000 - 5,000/kg...

Dozens of tons of tomatoes were consumed after the end of social distancing (April 22). Photo: Viet Hung

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - owner of a vegetable collection truck in Quynh Minh commune said, during the social distancing period, we did not dare to collect many vegetables because the markets in Hue and Da Nang were not as busy as before, the number of people going to the market decreased, the purchasing power was low, so instead of transporting 10 tons the previous day, in the past few days we only transported 3 tons to maintain the market. Since April 23, we started to collect more vegetables, the purchase price is also higher than before.

Traders collect vegetables and transport them to markets inside and outside the province. Photo: Viet Hung

Mr. Dau Duc Nam - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu district said that the whole district has nearly 1,000 hectares of specialized vegetable growing area, concentrated in the coastal communes. In the face of difficulties caused by weather and epidemics, the department encourages households to invest in greenhouses and produce vegetables according to VietGAP standards to increase productivity and output. The whole district has more than 20 hectares of VietGAP vegetables and growing them in greenhouses is proving to be effective and suitable in the current context of frequent weather and epidemics.

Harvesting carrots in Quynh Lien commune, Hoang Mai town. Photo: Viet Hung

In the vegetable growing area in Quynh Lien commune (Hoang Mai town), the production atmosphere has started to bustle again. On April 24 and 25, people went to the fields to take care of and harvest ripe vegetables for sale. Ms. Nguyen Thi Tinh in Quynh Lien commune said that after this epidemic, in addition to harvesting ripe vegetables, people will grow a variety of vegetables such as bitter melon, tomatoes, cabbage... to supply to familiar markets such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh...

In this spring-summer crop, Hoang Mai town has 250 hectares of vegetables and melons of all kinds, mainly concentrated in the communes of Quynh Lien, Quynh Trang, and Quynh Vinh. If the Covid-19 epidemic is controlled, after about 2 months, people will have products to harvest, products will be transported to consume in all provinces and cities for an estimated production value of over 100 million VND/ha/year.