Tons of ripe tomatoes in the garden with no buyers

TPO - Since the beginning of 2025, the vegetable and fruit orchards of Hoang Hoa Tham commune, Chi Linh city (Hai Duong) have suffered heavy losses when tomatoes are ready for harvest but no one comes to buy them. Many families have accepted losses and had to uproot them to replant other crops.

21/02/2025 | 15:10

Hai Duong:

TPO - Since the beginning of 2025, the vegetable and fruit orchards of Hoang Hoa Tham commune, Chi Linh city (Hai Duong) have suffered heavy losses when tomatoes are ready for harvest but no one comes to buy them. Many families have accepted losses and had to uproot them to replant other crops.

People in Hoang Hoa Tham commune, Chi Linh city, Hai Duong province have relied on agriculture and forestry for generations. This is also one of the major vegetable and fruit granaries of Chi Linh city as well as Hai Duong province.

But since the beginning of 2025, tomatoes in Hoang Hoa Tham commune have been unsold because traders have not come to buy them, causing the entire tomato field to ripen and wither.

"This year the weather is favorable so tomatoes have a good harvest, each plant can produce up to a dozen kilos of fruit, but because of the good harvest, the price has dropped, no one comes to buy," said Ms. Thu, a farmer in Hoang Hoa Tham commune.

To grow a tomato field of about 1,000m², people have to spend money on soil improvement, seedlings, fertilizers, care and trellis for tomatoes. Not to mention that irrigation in winter is very difficult.

"Normally, each kilogram of tomatoes costs from 8 to 10 thousand VND. Sometimes it goes up to 15 thousand VND per kilogram. But this year, even if we sold the whole field, it would not be worth the labor and capital costs because the price is less than 1 thousand VND per kilogram," said Ms. Tu, a farmer in Hoang Hoa Tham commune.

Next to the fields of ripe, withered tomatoes that no one buys, fields of newly blooming tomatoes are still following.

Many households, unable to sell tomatoes, have had to uproot entire fields of flowering tomatoes to plant other crops.

The crop that farmers have chosen to replace tomatoes is cucumber. Many fields have been converted to grow cucumbers because tomatoes have lost value.

No one bought it, so the farmer picked the green fruit and threw it away to feed the pigs.

"Every family that raises chickens picks tomatoes to feed their chickens, but eating a little is fine, but eating a lot makes the chickens sick and it's even worse," said farmer Phuc from Ho Giai village.

"In 2021, when Chi Linh was under curfew due to the Covid-19 outbreak, tomatoes in Hoang Hoa Tham commune were not as miserable as they are now. At that time, selling quickly for at least 3,000 VND per kilo, unlike now, where no one buys even 1,000 VND per kilo," said Ms. Thu, a farmer in Ho Giai village.

Speaking to Tien Phong reporter, the leader of Hoang Hoa Tham Commune People's Committee said that the commune has more than 5 hectares of tomato cultivation, but this year the farmers have lost crops because of low prices. In addition to tomatoes, farmers also grow onions, and this year the price of onions has also dropped. This has been a common situation since before Tet when agricultural products have dropped in price due to weak purchasing power.

"The total tomato output of the whole commune is about 275 tons. The current selling price is 2,000 VND/kg. Compared to the end of last year, it was 15,000 VND/kg. We have repeatedly called and connected with some tomato sauce factories in Bac Giang to support the purchase of tomatoes for the people. Currently, the government continues to connect with agricultural product purchasing agents, but the price has not increased yet," said the commune leader.

Hoang Duong

Source: https://tienphong.vn/hang-chuc-tan-ca-chua-chin-day-vuon-khong-nguoi-mua-post1718989.tpo