Farmers dry chili for an export business in Binh Hoa commune, Chau Thanh district, Hau Giang province. (Photo: VNA) An Giang (VNA) - Farmers, already hitby record low pork prices, are facing a fresh blow with prices for many otheragricultural products in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang dropping.
The price of cassava declined from 10,000 VND (0.44USD) per kilo last year to 1,000 VND per kilo at present.
Farmer Than Hoang Huynh from Phu Huu vommune inAn Phu district said it cost him about 10 million VND (444 USD) to grow1,000sq.m of cassava.
At current prices of 1,000 VND per kg, he couldnot afford to hire workers to harvest the cassava, he told Nguoi lao dong(Labourer) newspaper.
Guava and chilli prices also fell to 1,500-3,000VND from 8,000-10,000 VND and to 5,000-8,000 VND from 40,000 VND per kilo,respectively, in comparison with the same period in previous years.
A local agricultural officer told the newspaperthat the oversupply of farm produce in the province led to the price decline, aproblem that reoccurs year after year.
This year alone, the country has had to scrambleto fix agriculture oversupply problems.
In February, banana farmers in several provinceswere hit as prices plummeted from 14,000-17,000 VND per kilogramme to 1,000-3,000VND.
In April, several campaigns were launched torescue watermelon farmers in some localities, who suffered severe losses afterbeing unable to sell their crops.
Doan Thi Chai, Deputy Director of northern Hung Yenprovince’s Agriculture and Rural Development, said many farmers still grow farmproducts based on their perception, not on supply-demand rules.
At a question-and-answer session of the NationalAssembly this week, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen XuanCuong said the trend of bumper crops leading to price drops was due to poororganisation of the consumption market.
The agriculture sector had done well inproduction but processing and marketing were still weak, resulting inoversupply, said the minister.
Vietnam’s agriculture sector is small-scale,with low productivity and is vulnerable to climate change and internationalintegration, he admitted.
Many farm products experienced sharply droppingprices. In the latest case, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentlaunched a campaign nationwide to “save the pig” after pork prices dipped to arecord low.
However, experts said that the campaign was justa temporary measure to reduce losses for farmers and it should not be repeatedwhenever farm produce prices dropped.
Vo Thi Ly, Deputy Head of the Farm ProduceProcessing and Preservation Office under the ministry’s Department of FarmProduce Processing and Market Development, said the oversupply of farm productswas due to a failure to follow production plans.
In some localities, agricultural production wasstill small-scale with low productivity and not based on forecasts about marketdemand, she told cafef.vn
A lack of comprehensive market information fromcentral to local levels and limited capacity of market analysis and forecastcontributed to the problem, she said.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Tran Thanh Nam told the newspaper that to deal with bumper cropsleading to price drops, localities should closely supervise production planningset by the ministry.
"It is also necessary to boost productionchains linking farmers with businesses and co-operatives," he said.-VNA
The price of cassava declined from 10,000 VND (0.44USD) per kilo last year to 1,000 VND per kilo at present.
Farmer Than Hoang Huynh from Phu Huu vommune inAn Phu district said it cost him about 10 million VND (444 USD) to grow1,000sq.m of cassava.
At current prices of 1,000 VND per kg, he couldnot afford to hire workers to harvest the cassava, he told Nguoi lao dong(Labourer) newspaper.
Guava and chilli prices also fell to 1,500-3,000VND from 8,000-10,000 VND and to 5,000-8,000 VND from 40,000 VND per kilo,respectively, in comparison with the same period in previous years.
A local agricultural officer told the newspaperthat the oversupply of farm produce in the province led to the price decline, aproblem that reoccurs year after year.
This year alone, the country has had to scrambleto fix agriculture oversupply problems.
In February, banana farmers in several provinceswere hit as prices plummeted from 14,000-17,000 VND per kilogramme to 1,000-3,000VND.
In April, several campaigns were launched torescue watermelon farmers in some localities, who suffered severe losses afterbeing unable to sell their crops.
Doan Thi Chai, Deputy Director of northern Hung Yenprovince’s Agriculture and Rural Development, said many farmers still grow farmproducts based on their perception, not on supply-demand rules.
At a question-and-answer session of the NationalAssembly this week, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen XuanCuong said the trend of bumper crops leading to price drops was due to poororganisation of the consumption market.
The agriculture sector had done well inproduction but processing and marketing were still weak, resulting inoversupply, said the minister.
Vietnam’s agriculture sector is small-scale,with low productivity and is vulnerable to climate change and internationalintegration, he admitted.
Many farm products experienced sharply droppingprices. In the latest case, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentlaunched a campaign nationwide to “save the pig” after pork prices dipped to arecord low.
However, experts said that the campaign was justa temporary measure to reduce losses for farmers and it should not be repeatedwhenever farm produce prices dropped.
Vo Thi Ly, Deputy Head of the Farm ProduceProcessing and Preservation Office under the ministry’s Department of FarmProduce Processing and Market Development, said the oversupply of farm productswas due to a failure to follow production plans.
In some localities, agricultural production wasstill small-scale with low productivity and not based on forecasts about marketdemand, she told cafef.vn
A lack of comprehensive market information fromcentral to local levels and limited capacity of market analysis and forecastcontributed to the problem, she said.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Tran Thanh Nam told the newspaper that to deal with bumper cropsleading to price drops, localities should closely supervise production planningset by the ministry.
"It is also necessary to boost productionchains linking farmers with businesses and co-operatives," he said.-VNA
VNA
