Pepper prices at record lows during harvest season

A local farmer harvests pepper in this file photo. The pepper prices in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province saw a sharp decline, at VND45,000-VND46,000 per kilogram – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – The price of pepper has declined to a record low of VND45,000-VND46,000 per kilogram as the harvest season has begun in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. The sharp price fall has provoked concern among local pepper farmers, VietnamPlus reported.

The pepper harvest in the province started at the end of the Tet holiday. Nguyen Tan Linh, residing in the province’s Kim Long Commune, Chau Duc District, said that his family had an abundant harvest of pepper this year when the one-hectare garden yielded over four tons of the crop, but their happiness was short-lived as the pepper prices tumbled.

The sharp pepper price slump, which was attributed to the world pepper price drop and the large pepper inventory in the province, saw many farmers incurring heavy losses. Also, the pepper prices traded in the province are forecast to remain low in the coming time, according to Le Quy Thinh, deputy head of the district’s Agriculture and Rural Development Division.

The concerns heightened when local farmers had to pay high costs to hire workers to harvest the pepper, due to the severe shortage of manpower, Thinh said. Some 6,000 hectares of pepper-farming land among 7,000 in the district are ready for harvesting, with the total yield reaching an estimated 10,000 tons.

Many people in rural areas had flocked to major cities to find work, resulting in a serious shortage of manpower for harvesting the pepper. Meanwhile, a surging number of households are growing pepper plants, Thinh explained.

To cope with the manpower shortage, the district’s local authorities on February 13 asked the competent agencies to mobilize human resources to support local pepper farmers with the harvest.

Aside from Chau Duc, the district of Xuyen Moc, one of the largest pepper-farming localities in the province, has faced the same manpower shortage. The current costs for hiring workers to harvest pepper in Xuyen Moc fluctuates between VND180,000 and VND200,000 per person per day.

Regarding Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, it has total pepper farming land of 13,000 hectares, with more than 10,000 hectares currently entering the harvest season.