Price drop forces farmers to leave vegetables unharvested

Cabbages left rotten in Hà Tĩnh field due to a price fall in vegetables.

THỪA THIÊN- HUẾ — Farmers in the central provinces of Hà Tĩnh and Thừa Thiên- Huế are in deep sorrow as their vegetables have remained unconsumed for weeks due to a price fall.

In Hà Tĩnh, farmers are harvesting their vegetables to feed pigs and cattle. Others have let the plant wither in the fields.

Nguyễn Đình Dũng, a farmer in the province’s Thạch Liên Commune, said he had fed his vegetables to his cows as no traders came to his field after Tết (Lunar New Year).

Nguyễn Thị Yến, another farmer in the province’s Thạch Hưng Commune, said she has been so depressed from the vegetable price fall that she has left the plant on the field to save the effort of harvesting.

Farmers said in a report by the online newswire infonet that price had plunged abruptly. Cabbages, for instance, previously cost VNĐ20,000 (87 cents) each but have now dropped to VNĐ3,000 each.

“No traders have come despite that low price,” said Dũng.

Nguyễn Sỹ Dần, chairman of Thạch Liên Commune, said favourable weather at the end of last year resulted in a bumper crop of mustard, cabbage, turnip and lettuce. But as always, a bumper crop meant a price fall as supply exceeded consumption, he said.

Farmers in Thừa Thiên- Huế experienced a similar situation. Vegetables produced by farmers in the province could not be consumed either due to a similar price fall.

Local farmers said the cost for each kilogramme fell from VNĐ25,000 (US$1.1) to VNĐ2,000, driving traders away from their VietGAP (Vietnamese Good Agriculture Practice) produce.

Trương Hào, a farmer in Quảng Thành Commune, said he had to harvest the mature lettuce to feed pigs and attempt to keep the younger plants until a price increase.

Hoàng Vọng, deputy head of Quảng Điền District’s agriculture division, said local vegetables could not compete with vegetables imported from the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng, leading to a price fall due to low sales.

Unconsumed vegetables also occurred in other communes of Phong An, Điền Hòa, Điền Lộc, Hương Xuân and Quảng Thọ.

Agriculture authorities have been struggling with the question of low prices during a bumper crop of agricultural products for years, but there is no sign that they have found a way out