Ben Cau: Chili plants have curly tops, bad harvest, low price, farmers worry about losses

People harvest chili in Long Thuan commune, Ben Cau district.

However, since the end of 2023, unfavorable weather conditions, intense heat and lack of irrigation water have caused many chili growing areas to suffer from unusual curling disease, causing severe yield reduction, and some households have even lost everything. Meanwhile, the price of chili after harvest has decreased sharply compared to the same period, chili growers are facing the risk of heavy losses.

Although they have gone through more than 5 harvests, the total amount of money that Mrs. Nguyen Thi Be's family, residing in Long Hung hamlet, Long Thuan commune, has earned is still less than half of the capital invested in the chili field.

Ms. Be said that this year, her family planted more than 1 hectare of chili, with the total investment cost from the beginning of the season to the present time being more than 100 million VND, including land preparation, fertilizer and pesticides. With the current price of chili at about 14,000 VND/kg, after deducting the cost of hiring pickers at 5,000 VND/kg, pesticides and spraying costs after each harvest, the growers have almost no profit left.

According to Ms. Be, the price of chili this year is lower than the same period in 2023, about 10,000 VND/kg, while chili plants have been affected by curly shoot disease from the branching stage, the leaves and young branches are curled and deformed, making it difficult for the chili plants to flower, the fruit is small, greatly affecting productivity.

“Since the beginning of the year, there has been no rain and the weather has been hot, so whiteflies have sucked the young shoots, preventing the chili plants from growing. The leaves and young shoots have curled up and turned a whitish-green color like young bananas. From that part up, the plants cannot bear fruit, and if they do, they will only bear a few small fruits. This season, my family is sure to lose money,” Ms. Be lamented.

The price of chili after harvest is only about 14,000 VND/kg, causing difficulties for farmers.

According to a household harvesting chili peppers near Mrs. Be's chili pepper field, if the chili pepper plants are curled, they cannot be saved and the yield is estimated to decrease by 50% compared to last year.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tam - Vice Chairman of Long Thuan Commune People's Committee said that in the 2024 Winter-Spring crop, the commune has about 100 hectares of chili, nearly 100% of the area is affected by curly top and white leaf diseases, greatly affecting post-harvest productivity. Meanwhile, the price of chili this year is lower than in 2023, currently only about 14,000 - 15,000 VND/kg. At this price, it will be very difficult for chili growers to recover their capital.

According to Mr. Tam, chili has been one of the main crops of local farmers in recent years, but the output is unstable, depending on traders, prices are unstable, while production investment costs are increasing, so the income of chili farmers is very precarious.

Minh Duong

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