Areca nut prices increase, people have more income
Quang Ngai province is known as the “land of thousands of areca nuts”, with a growing area of up to thousands of hectares, mainly concentrated in Nghia Hanh and Son Tay districts. Many years ago, the price of areca nuts in Quang Ngai was unstable, at times falling to as low as 3,000 - 5,000 VND/kg. However, in the past 3 months, the price of areca nuts has increased to a record high of about 80,000 - 85,000 VND/kg, many areca growers in Quang Ngai have made big profits.
In the mountainous district of Son Tay, the locality with the largest areca area in Quang Ngai with over 1,000 hectares, in the past few days, the atmosphere has been bustling and busy as dozens of traders wandered around the villages, searching for and bargaining to buy areca. With the characteristics of a poor mountainous district, more than 92% of the population are ethnic minorities (mainly Ca Dong people - a local group of the Xo Dang ethnic group), the fact that areca is in season and has a good price has made ethnic minorities in Son Tay excited. Along with the mountainous district of Son Tay, Nghia Hanh district also has nearly 750 hectares of areca trees with an output of about 9,000 tons.
Owning nearly 2 hectares of areca, Mr. Dinh Van Duong's family (Son Dung commune) has a significant income. His family has more than 2,000 areca trees being harvested. "With the current areca price, I earn nearly 100 million VND per month. With this level of income, my family really wouldn't dare to dream of it," said Mr. Duong.
Similarly, the family of Mr. Dinh Van Nhoc (Son Dung commune) grows about 4 hectares of areca, of which more than half of the area is being harvested. On average, he harvests about 70 kg of fresh areca every day. With the current areca price of about 80,000 VND/kg, Mr. Nhoc earns more than 100 million VND per month, after deducting all expenses. Many families have a good income and can buy all the necessary amenities thanks to the areca harvest. The lives of many Ca Dong families here have become quite prosperous.
According to the experience of areca growers, areca will be harvested after about 5-6 years of planting, the harvest time is from July to the end of the year, on average 20-25 days/batch. Compared to planting other fruit trees, areca trees are still much more valuable, and require less care.
According to the owner of an areca warehouse in Son Tay district, the high price of areca from the beginning of the season to the middle of the season like now is unprecedented. In 2021, areca growers also had a big profit but not as much as this year. Currently, each quintal of areca can buy one tael of gold. Thanks to that, many households have an income of tens of millions of dong to hundreds of millions of dong from selling areca fruit.
According to many traders, the continuous increase in areca nut prices in recent times mainly depends on the Chinese and Indian markets. When demand from these markets increases, the price of areca nuts will also increase. After purchasing at the garden, traders will transport them to the gathering point, separate the fruit from the stem and dry them. Normally, 7-8 kg of fresh fruit will produce one kg of dried areca nuts, which are then exported to China, India and several other countries.
People should balance the crop structure.
Because of high profits, in recent years, many farmers in Nghia Hanh district have destroyed fruit trees and switched to growing areca. In fact, in recent years, areca prices have fallen dramatically, but despite the unstable prices compared to many other crops in Son Tay, areca trees still bring more economic efficiency. Since 2018, Son Tay district has included areca trees in the group of key crops of the district to contribute to hunger eradication, poverty reduction and build a project to form a specialized areca growing area. The goal by 2025 is to form a specialized areca growing area of about 2,000 hectares in 9 communes, most of which are Son Dung, Son Long, Son Mua communes...
To implement the Project, the local government has provided areca seeds and appropriate fertilizers depending on the needs of households. To date, this mountainous district has about 600 households growing 1,000 or more areca trees. From 2019 to present, Son Tay mountainous district has newly planted about 900 hectares of areca. Each year, the district newly plants about 166 hectares of areca, replacing old, low-yielding crops. This farming method helps the Ca Dong people maintain their household gardens, stabilize their income, and increase the productivity of areca gardens and specialized areas for mountainous areas.
Areca nuts in Son Tay are famous for being grown using clean methods, without using chemical fertilizers or pesticides, so they are very popular with foreign partners. The processing technology of countries importing areca nuts from Vietnam is also very advanced, creating many diverse products from areca nuts.
Son Tay district currently has 16 areca nut purchasing and processing facilities with a capacity of about 8,000 tons/crop. The source of fresh areca nut meets about 65% of the capacity, exported to many countries such as China, India, Korea..., depending on market demand.
Along with supporting Ca Dong people to plant new and replace areca palm areas to expand the raw material area for export, the agricultural sector in Quang Ngai is also building growing area codes and product brands, promoting and calling for businesses to invest in the field of specialized processing of areca palm products.
In response to the fact that people are actively planting areca nuts because of the increase in prices, authorities at all levels of Quang Ngai province have advised people not to disrupt their crop structure to pursue areca nuts. Mr. Pham Hong Khuyen, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Son Tay district, said that this is only the first year that areca nuts have increased in price, so local authorities need to closely monitor and give recommendations to farmers, not to encourage people to massively increase the area of areca nuts.
Currently, the areca nut consumption market mainly depends on China, so prices are unstable, one year is profitable, the other is not. To create a source of income for people in the years when areca nut prices fall, Tay Son district encourages people to plant some varieties of plants under the areca nut canopy such as Dutch onions, Queen guava, pineapple, lemongrass, etc. to balance local crops.
In Tien Phuoc district, the areca growing area of Quang Nam province also has more than 1,000 hectares, of which more than 500 hectares have produced fruit with an output of over 2,600 tons of fresh fruit/year, the income value from areca and by-products is estimated at 100-150 billion VND/year. Tien Phuoc currently has 18 areca drying kilns, all of which are made of corrugated iron. The drying capacity per day is 20 tons-30 tons/kiln.
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