At the moment, farmers living in Lang Son take their great pleasure of a high – productivity season. However, the unstable price of fresh chilli makes them extremely anxious of a sharp decrease.
It is easy to grow and care chilli trees and get a quick time for harvest. Therefore, in recent years, farmers in Lang Son have changed into growing small chilli for export only.
Particularly in recent years, growing chilli has brought sufficient incomes to local farmers. Consequently, the number of farmers growing chilli has increased dramatically from 2008. According to an estimate, the chilli area has been increasing to thousands of hectares up to now.
This year, farmers here are all happy with high productivity and good price as well. At the beginning of season, there was a time the merchants purchase at a price of fresh chilli at 27,000 dong/kg. Nevertheless, the chilli price depends mainly on Chinese market. If the chilli price in China decreases, the price of fresh chilli in local areas will accordingly decrease.
Farmers also shared, the price of fresh chilli is so unstable that it is difficult to forecast. There is some time the morning price is 21,000 dong/kg, at noon may be up to 25,000 dong/kg or down to 17,000 dong/kg. The high fluctuations in fresh chilli price make the farmers very anxious.
A farmer picked fresh chilli and said in happiness: “This year my family takes 4 sao (360m2/sao) for growing chilli for export. Good weather and technical application will make trees have a lot of fruits. This year my family grows a bit later than usual, so there have been just some chilli being ripe”.
Fresh chilli in Lang Son province
“If the chilli is ripe fully, we can take more than 1,000kg fresh chilli at once. With the price fluctuating from 17,000 to 25,000 dong/kg as current, my family will get nearly 2,000,000 dong for each time of selling. If the family is growing 5 sao, the income may be up to 40 million dong. This year, the chilli harvest is bumper and the price is high that make farmers very happy”, the farmer added.
Another farmer shared: “This year, my family takes nearly 2 sao for growing chilli. If the harvest isgood, we can get more than 600kg of chilli per sao, on average. On some days at the beginning season, each kg of chilli priced at 27,000 dong. In recent days, the price of fresh chilli has fluctuated from 17,000 to 25,000 dong/kg”.
“However, the high fluctuation of price makes us anxious as well. This kind of chilli is mainly exported to China. If the Chinese dealers stop purchasing, the price will dramatically decrease. Take last year as an example, the price was down to only 6,000 dong/kg due to low demand from China. If the price remains stable at 15,000 – 20,000 dong/kg, we do not need to be too worried”, she explained.
Fresh chilli: Grower’s happiness
According to local farmers, chilli trees are easy to grow and gain a higher productivity than growing rice. If the price is stable around 15,000 dong/kg, planting chilli will bring higher income than other vegetables.
According to a local dealer, “Lately, price of fresh chilli has increased due to high domestic consumption and high demand from Malaysia and South Korea. Many local merchants have set up establishments in the locality in order to purchase chilli. However supply is less than demand. Besides, price fluctuation is unpredictable because it depends mostly on Chinese market.
According to chilli growers, growing chilli does not need a lot of investment capital. It costs only 100,000 VND to buy seeds for one sao. If the market price is stable, this kind of chilli will help farmers to earn high income and enrich the country.
Vietnamese source: danviet.vn