Every year, after the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, pepper growers in Quang Tri province officially enter the harvest season. This year, the joy is doubled for farmers, pepper is not only in season but also in price. The price of dried pepper is at its highest level in nearly 10 years. Many families expect to earn several hundred million VND from selling dried pepper this season.
Mr. Bui Van Tam in An Nha village, Gio An commune, Gio Linh and his wife harvest pepper - Photo: TU LINH
Mr. Le Van Hoang's family in Phuc Duc village, Hien Thanh commune, Vinh Linh district has a pepper garden of 10 sao, the largest in the village. In recent days, Mr. Hoang has focused on harvesting pepper, choosing the ripe pepper layers to harvest first, harvesting the outer layer first, the inner layer later, harvesting the top first, and the bottom later. This crop, Mr. Hoang's pepper garden yield is estimated at nearly 200 kg of dry pepper/sao, the selling price at the garden at this time is 170,000 VND/kg of dry pepper, estimated to earn nearly 350 million VND.
Hien Thanh Commune is considered the largest pepper growing area in Vinh Linh District. Chairman of Hien Thanh Commune People's Committee Le Duc Kiem said that pepper is identified as a key crop, chosen by many farmers in the commune for cultivation. The pepper growing area in the commune is more than 184 hectares. Many households cultivate on a large scale, applying a methodical care process, thus bringing high economic value. Although there are times when pests and diseases or unstable product prices, pepper still brings jobs and stable income to many local farmers. This year, pepper has a good harvest, high yield, and high selling price, so pepper growers are very excited.
These days, pepper growers in Quang Tri province are taking advantage of favorable weather to harvest pepper on time. Mr. Bui Van Tam's family in An Nha hamlet, Gio An commune, Gio Linh district, has the largest pepper garden in the hamlet with an area of 12 sao. Mr. Tam could not hide his joy when this year's pepper yield was twice as high as last year.
Under the summer sun, Mr. Tam and his wife quickly picked each bunch of ripe pepper. The total output of Mr. Tam's pepper garden is estimated at more than 2 tons of dry pepper (about 180 kg/sao). Currently, dry pepper is being purchased by traders at the garden for up to 170,000 VND/kg, and Mr. Tam's family earned about 350 million VND from selling pepper. This is a huge amount of money that Mr. Tam did not dare to think of when the pepper garden began to bloom last fall.
Not only Mr. Bui Van Tam, many pepper growing families in Gio An earned a large sum of money this season, helping them to have more conditions to repair their houses, send their children to school, and improve their family life.
Vice Chairman of Gio An Commune People's Committee Le Phuoc Hieu said that Gio An is considered the "capital" of pepper in Gio Linh district. The whole commune has 75 hectares of pepper that are being harvested (not including 45 hectares that are newly planted from 2 to 3 years old), with an estimated average yield of 3 tons of dry pepper/ha. In previous years, the highest pepper price was only 65,000 VND/kg, but this year at the beginning of the year the price was 90,000 VND/kg, then the price continued to increase gradually every month, up to this time in June it reached 170,000 VND/kg. Meanwhile, with just a selling price of 90,000 VND/kg of dry pepper, farmers would have made a profit. The total amount of money from dry pepper brought to Gio An people this season is expected to be about 20 billion VND.
Many localities in the province have entered the pepper harvest season, so the lack of harvesting labor has become a concern for many garden owners. Although they are willing to pay high wages, many farmers still cannot hire workers to harvest. On average, 1 hectare of pepper in the harvest season requires at least 20-30 workers to pick in a short period of time. If last year the price of pepper harvesting labor per person was only 220,000 VND/day, this season it is up to 280,000 VND/day, but it is still difficult to find workers.
Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hong Phuong said that pepper is identified as one of the province's key long-term industrial crops, grown in large areas in Vinh Linh, Gio Linh, Cam Lo and Huong Hoa districts with an area of nearly 2,000 hectares. In recent times, the province has had many policies to support and encourage people to apply science and technology to pepper production. This includes promoting organic pepper production. The whole province has nearly 100 hectares of pepper certified as organic, purchased at a price about 10% higher than traditional cultivation methods.
To ensure the quality of the pepper harvest, the department always recommends that people choose the right time, focus on harvesting ripe pepper gardens, and should not harvest when the pepper is not yet ripe. During the harvesting process, it is necessary to ensure labor safety.
According to information from the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association, one of the main reasons for the sharp increase in pepper prices in recent times is due to limited supply worldwide; meanwhile, the demand for this spice is maintained at a high level. The US, European countries and China are the main consumer markets of Vietnamese pepper. Due to the impact of climate change, while there has not been much new pepper planting area recently, global pepper output will decrease. This has greatly affected the increase in pepper prices in recent times and it is forecasted that pepper prices will continue to increase in the coming time, but at a slower rate.
In this situation, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development always closely monitors market factors as well as pepper growing situation of the people to give timely directions and recommendations. Focus on improving productivity on existing areas to create product quality that competes well with domestic localities, meets the requirements of the international market, and serves export.
That helps Quang Tri's pepper products bring higher value. Farmers should not rush to plant new pepper because of the rising price, but only increase the area in planned areas to ensure the province's pepper area reaches about 2,700 hectares and is cultivated in a sustainable manner.
Tu Linh
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