Bumper harvest but price drop
Ha Noi, May 22 (VNA) -- Favourable weather has so far indicated the likelihood of a bumper winter-spring harvest and a record fish catch, but a sharp drop in prices has dampered farmers' hope for an increase in income.
This year, almost 3 million ha of winter-spring rice will be harvested across the country, an increase of more than 10,000 ha over the corresponding period last year. Yields are higher than the previous crops. Increases in yields and output are also expected for maize and other food crops.
Catches of sea-food in the last four months increased year on year by almost 11 percent to more than 450,000 tonnes. This contributed to raising the aquatic export turnover by 61.65 percent to almost USD 500 million.
Prices, especially of rice and coffee, Viet Nam's major hard currency earners, however, are dropping sharply.
The price of a tonne of rice fell by USD 50, making the gross export value in the last four months increase just 27 percent although the export output skyrocketed 168 percent year on year to 1.223 million tonnes.
Viet Nam's coffee price fell by almost 50 percent on the international market to just USD 450 per tonne. Consequently, the country gained just a five-percent increase in the export value for its double export output of 129,000 tonnes.
Pepper and cashew nuts have had a similar fate, suffering decreases of 34 percent and 23 percent, respectively, in their export price.
Farmers in some remote areas reportedly sold a kg of plum at just VND 500 (3.0 cents) or apricot at VND 200. This has caused fruits in many orchards to be left decaying on trees because sales of products could not cover farmers' harvesting cost.
Experts have blamed the situation on farmers' lack of agricultural knowledge, information on the international market, and the absence of cooperation between scientists, processing executives, and farmers.
The wanton expansion of coffee plantations in Central Highlands Tay Nguyen with little regard for soil ecology resulted in coffee plant diseases and a low-quality bean that drove export prices down.
A massive shift from rice cultivation to shrimp raising in southern Viet Nam, where farmers haven't yet been equipped with sufficient knowledge, has caused a sharp decline in the shrimp population of some areas and made a number of "millionaires" bankrupt.
The current shortage of sugarcane and sugar has proved to be a costly lesson about what happen when there is a lack of cooperation between scientists, food processors, and crop growers, economists said.--VNA
