Good price, bad harvest

BTO - Throughout February, Binh Thuan experienced consecutive unseasonal rains, causing many cashew orchards to suffer from flower blight. At the same time, the market price of raw cashews remained high, leaving cashew farmers regretting their losses.

Cashew trees have a characteristic that when they flower and bear fruit, rain or frost almost always causes the flowers to dry out; farmers often call this phenomenon "flower burn." Because when cashew flowers burn, they cannot bear fruit. In Binh Thuan, cashew trees usually flower at the end of the year, from December to March of the following year. Cashew trees flower in multiple waves, but the first two waves yield the most fruit, accounting for 60-70% of the orchard's yield, while the remaining waves are secondary. Therefore, if rain occurs during January and February, the golden period for cashew flowering and yielding 70% of the orchard's harvest, that year's cashew crop is considered a failure.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the province has over 17,000 hectares of cashew trees, concentrated in Duc Linh, Tanh Linh, Ham Thuan Bac, and Ham Tan districts, of which over 15,000 hectares are currently in the harvesting period, yielding 10,000 tons per year. The low yield and production of cashews in Binh Thuan are due to the fact that most of the cashew trees were previously planted from seeds without proper selection, and intensive farming practices have not been implemented correctly. To meet the export demands of this product, the province has planned to replant and improve cashew varieties on approximately 12,500 hectares, aiming to increase productivity and quality to meet export requirements. In previous years with a bumper cashew crop, in late February and early March, traders specializing in agricultural products in Ham Thuan Bac, Ham Tan, Duc Linh, and Tanh Linh districts would busily collect cashews from farmers. Along some roads in these districts, small-scale vendors would set up scales at intersections, waiting for farmers returning from their fields to buy cashews with cash. However, this year, that bustling atmosphere is completely absent. Although cashew prices are currently high, fluctuating between 40,000 and 45,000 VND/kg – a price that should have brought joy to cashew farmers – in reality, many farmers are more saddened than happy because many orchards have suffered from flower blight, resulting in yields of only about 30-60%…

Mr. Nguyen Phi, from Duc Thuan commune, Tanh Linh district, owns nearly 2 hectares of cashew trees, but for the past few days, he has abandoned his orchard and rushed around seeking work on construction sites to earn income because his cashew trees yielded no harvest. With a sad voice, Mr. Phi recounted: “Last year, my cashew orchard yielded nearly 1.5 tons, but this year, since the Lunar New Year, there have been three heavy rainstorms, causing two flowering periods of the cashew trees to dry up. Each tree only produced a few dozen fruits, so there’s no hope. Cashews are currently fetching high prices, and my family has been diligently fertilizing and applying pesticides according to the Agricultural Extension Center’s procedures, but unfortunately, the weather is so unpredictable. Looking at my cashew orchard is heartbreaking…” Phuong Nga, a buyer of raw cashew nuts in Tanh Linh district, said: "If the cashew blossoms are damaged, the number of fruits that set is also low and of poor quality. The quality of the fruits that set is reduced by 30-40% because the raw cashew nuts are sticky, have thick shells but small kernels. Processing factories consider these cashew nuts as grade 2, so traders are in a 'dilemma'. Buying at low prices would be unfair to the cashew farmers, but buying at market price means losses when the factories sort the nuts for collection. Therefore, this year not only cashew farmers are suffering losses, but also traders who collect cashews are worried about losing money because the quality of cashew nuts is not as good as in previous years..."

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/dieu-duoc-gia-mat-mua-128256.html