900 tons of unsold cassava, cows can't eat it all, people have to dig holes to bury it

Over the past month, cassava (yam bean) in the specialized farming area of Duong Quang commune (Mo Duc district, Quang Ngai province) has been ready for harvest. The cassava crop is bountiful, with an expected yield of approximately 1,300 tons. However, 300 farming households are unhappy because they have to waste time and effort discarding the crop.

Last year, cassava was purchased at 6,000-7,000 VND/kg. This year, traders are only buying a very small amount at 1,500-1,800 VND/kg. This price is not even enough to cover the harvesting costs.

900 tấn sắn ế, bò ăn không hết, người dân phải đào hố chôn - 1 — Despite a bumper crop of cassava, people in Quang Ngai are disheartened because traders are not buying it (Photo: Quoc Trieu).

With 6 sao (each sao is 500m2) of land planted with cassava, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoan harvested over 16 tons of tubers but only managed to sell a few hundred kilograms. The rest is piled up waiting for traders.

"This year, they only selected the most beautiful tubers to buy, and they're selling them for only 1,800 VND/kg. Even at this price, we wouldn't cover our costs. We've been waiting for traders every day, but no one has come to buy. Many people have had to feed them to livestock or uproot them to clear land for cultivation," said Mrs. Ngoan.

900 tấn sắn ế, bò ăn không hết, người dân phải đào hố chôn - 2 — Since traders aren't buying the cassava, people are feeding it to their livestock (Photo: Quoc Trieu).

After waiting for traders for many days without success, Mr. Nguyen Sau had to dig holes to bury the cassava tubers. He said that there were too many cassava tubers, and traders wouldn't buy them, so he didn't know what to do with them. He couldn't feed them to livestock much, so he was forced to bury them.

"If you leave the cassava tubers out there, they'll sprout and grow everywhere, and it'll be a hassle to clean them up, so I have to dig a deep hole to bury them. Now I can't sell them and I'm wasting time disposing of them," Mr. Sau said.

Not only did it take over four months of care, but Mr. Sau also spent a lot of money planting cassava. For his 8 sao (approximately 0.8 hectares) plot of land, he invested about 40 million VND in seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides. While in previous years he would earn 40-50 million VND, this year he lost everything.

900 tấn sắn ế, bò ăn không hết, người dân phải đào hố chôn - 3 — Mr. Nguyen Sau had to dig a hole to bury the cassava root (Photo: Quoc Trieu).

According to Mr. Nguyen Tan Viet, Chairman of the People's Committee of Duc Thang commune, cassava is a traditional crop in the locality. In previous years, all the cassava was sold out because many other vegetable growing areas were often flooded.

However, this year there have been fewer floods and the supply of vegetables from other areas has increased, resulting in fewer buyers for local cassava.

In previous years, traders from the southern provinces often imported cassava tubers from the commune. However, this year, many places in the South are growing this crop, so the local cassava has lost its competitive advantage.

"To address the immediate difficulties faced by farmers, the commune has asked the Provincial Farmers' Association to help sell 300 tons, and the people have sold about 100 tons retail, leaving 900 tons still unsold," Mr. Viet said.

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