For over a month now, Vietnam’s chili the selling price has remained at the high level. Therefore, Western farmers were happy because they earned profits of hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dongs.
Vietnam’s chili is grown scattered across the Southwestern provinces, such as Tieng Giang, Dong Thap and Tra Vinh. In areas with saline or acidic soils where other fruit trees struggle to grow, chili plants still yield high productivity.
Frozen red chili from Vietnam
Ms. Dao is an owner of a nearly one-hectare chili farm in Tien Giang province. She said that “chili is a crop that associated with low-income farmers due to its long harvesting period. Vietnamese chilies begin to be harvested around 60 days after transplanting the seedlings. The harvesting period of Vietnam’s chili can last up to 45 days”.
“This is a unique characteristic that allows many poor farmers to stick with chili farming because it yields fruit daily. The harvesting period of other fruit trees may last a few days. Also, they require a whole year before the next season. However, chili plants bear fruit quickly and continue to produce for a long time,” Dao explained.
Frozen green chili from Vietnam
According to her, harvesting chili is quite labor-intensive due to by-hand pickup. For families with larger chili-growing areas, they have to pay more labor cost to keep up with harvesting. Notably, Vietnamese chili prices have surged recently, bringing great joy to farmers in Tien Giang province.
“This season, I earned over 60 million VND thanks to the high chili prices. Prices have remained high since early last month, ranging from 32,000 to 35,000 VND per kilogram. Normally, even 20,000 VND/kg of Vietnamese fresh chili is enough to make farmers happy. Therefore, this price hike has encouraged many people to start planting more chili,” Dao added.
According to our research, chili is widely cultivated in nearly all districts of Tien Giang province, covering hundreds of hectares. According to an estimate, there are more than 7,000 hectares of chili cultivation in the entire Mekong Delta. Chili varieties mainly consist of bird’s eye chili and big chili, yielding about 25 to 30 tons per hectare.
Fresh chili from Vietnam
In addition to domestic consumption, chili has its presence in many countries. Fresh chili and frozen chili are two main types of Vietnam’s chili exports. China, Malaysia and South Korea are the three biggest markets of Vietnam’s chili. In addition, fresh chili is the material for processing into products such as chili sauce and chili powder.
Not only in Tien Giang, but farmers in Dong Thap and Long An provinces have also been happy with the rising chili prices at the end of the year. According to the farmers, the high chili prices and the forecast that prices may continue to rise, are very positive signs for chili growers.
Vietnamese source: https://daidoanket.vn/nong-dan-mien-tay-lai-lon-vu-ot-cuoi-nam-10268128.html