After the Lunar New Year of the Horse 2014, many vegetables grown in DaLat city, Lam Dong province and neighbouring areas (branded Da Latvegetables) dropped in price significantly, said the Communist Party ofVietnam(CPV) online newspaper on March 5.
It is time to harvestsome vegetable gardens but traders offered to buy at very low pricewhich is not enough to cover the cost of renting labour for the harvest,leaving farmers unable to sell their products, according to CPV onlinenewspaper.
Actually, this is not the first time growers of DaLat vegetables have had to leave their products in the field. Thesituation of bumper crops resulting in low prices, and seeing highprices only after poor crops has happened many times in the greatestvegetable growing area in the country.
The main reason is the poor linkage between production and consumption networks, and poor market information.
DaLat is the largest and high-quality vegetable production area in thecountry. With the favourable condition of climate and altitude, farmershave experience and access to high technology, so vegetable productionin Da Lat is a model for farmers in other areas.
Da Lat annually plants over 50,000 ha of vegetables, of which 12,000 ha is applied high technology.
Productivity,output and prices of vegetables produced by high technology isincreasing. Revenue of high-grade vegetables is over 400 millionVND/ha/year, 1.6 times higher than the average rate of the province. Thetrademark of Da Lat vegetables has been certified and appearsthroughout the country and in some foreign markets.
However,consumption markets for Da Lat vegetable have been precarious for years.Among about 1.7 million tonnes of vegetables produced annually, 13,000tonnes are exported. The rest is consumed locally, and it is mainly soldto traders in wholesale markets.
Farmers sell kinds ofvegetables they have, while traders only buy sort of vegetables whichbring them high profits, if not they force farmers to sell at low priceor leave farmers flat. Moreover, farmers usually rush to grow high pricevegetables at the previous season but not know that the selling pricecould be changed at the next crop.
Although the Da Lat vegetablemarket is gloomy, production and consumption of vegetables of manyhouseholds, collectives and businesses are still stable, such as Da LatGap Co., Ltd, Xuan Huong collective, and Anh Dao collective.
Inthese units, farmers produced vegetables with quantity and types orderedby supermarkets so they don’t worry about seasonal price dips.Furthermore, the distributors are active in their source of supply toensure quality and standards.
This shows that for agriculturalproduction activities, especially fresh products such as vegetables,market research and consumption network organisation are urgentlyneeded. However this is not easy for farmers, and it should be supportedby the State.
Indeed, over the past time, Lam Dong province hadmany activities to support farmers such as approving vegetableproduction area planning until 2020 for sustainable and effectivedevelopment, associating production with processing and consumption ofproducts.
In addition to infrastructure investment, promotion ofscientific and technological application to improve the quality offruits and vegetables, the province also pays attention to attractinginvestors in purchasing and processing products; building links betweenhouseholds, cooperatives, and businesses in the supply of agriculturalmaterials and consumption of products; strengthening trade promotion,market development, building transaction floors for vegetables, fruitsand flowers to create favourable conditions for businesses toparticipate in trading.-VNA
It is time to harvestsome vegetable gardens but traders offered to buy at very low pricewhich is not enough to cover the cost of renting labour for the harvest,leaving farmers unable to sell their products, according to CPV onlinenewspaper.
Actually, this is not the first time growers of DaLat vegetables have had to leave their products in the field. Thesituation of bumper crops resulting in low prices, and seeing highprices only after poor crops has happened many times in the greatestvegetable growing area in the country.
The main reason is the poor linkage between production and consumption networks, and poor market information.
DaLat is the largest and high-quality vegetable production area in thecountry. With the favourable condition of climate and altitude, farmershave experience and access to high technology, so vegetable productionin Da Lat is a model for farmers in other areas.
Da Lat annually plants over 50,000 ha of vegetables, of which 12,000 ha is applied high technology.
Productivity,output and prices of vegetables produced by high technology isincreasing. Revenue of high-grade vegetables is over 400 millionVND/ha/year, 1.6 times higher than the average rate of the province. Thetrademark of Da Lat vegetables has been certified and appearsthroughout the country and in some foreign markets.
However,consumption markets for Da Lat vegetable have been precarious for years.Among about 1.7 million tonnes of vegetables produced annually, 13,000tonnes are exported. The rest is consumed locally, and it is mainly soldto traders in wholesale markets.
Farmers sell kinds ofvegetables they have, while traders only buy sort of vegetables whichbring them high profits, if not they force farmers to sell at low priceor leave farmers flat. Moreover, farmers usually rush to grow high pricevegetables at the previous season but not know that the selling pricecould be changed at the next crop.
Although the Da Lat vegetablemarket is gloomy, production and consumption of vegetables of manyhouseholds, collectives and businesses are still stable, such as Da LatGap Co., Ltd, Xuan Huong collective, and Anh Dao collective.
Inthese units, farmers produced vegetables with quantity and types orderedby supermarkets so they don’t worry about seasonal price dips.Furthermore, the distributors are active in their source of supply toensure quality and standards.
This shows that for agriculturalproduction activities, especially fresh products such as vegetables,market research and consumption network organisation are urgentlyneeded. However this is not easy for farmers, and it should be supportedby the State.
Indeed, over the past time, Lam Dong province hadmany activities to support farmers such as approving vegetableproduction area planning until 2020 for sustainable and effectivedevelopment, associating production with processing and consumption ofproducts.
In addition to infrastructure investment, promotion ofscientific and technological application to improve the quality offruits and vegetables, the province also pays attention to attractinginvestors in purchasing and processing products; building links betweenhouseholds, cooperatives, and businesses in the supply of agriculturalmaterials and consumption of products; strengthening trade promotion,market development, building transaction floors for vegetables, fruitsand flowers to create favourable conditions for businesses toparticipate in trading.-VNA
