In Tra Lan town, Con Cuong district, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai, a lychee grower with more than 30 trees, shared: “This year, the lychee crop is good, each tree produces about 500 kg of fruit on average. My family has sold more than 1 ton of grade 1 lychee, but the price is only 8,000 - 10,000 VND/kg. Meanwhile, last year, the same type of lychee was sold for 14,000 - 15,000 VND/kg.”
According to Ms. Hai, Tra Lan people have been growing lychee for a long time, the lychee variety is taken from Hung Yen . During the growing process, the lychee trees are fertilized regularly every year, the quality is delicious and sweet, but still cannot be consumed strongly due to lack of stable output.
A similar situation also occurred in Chau Khe commune. Mr. Kha Van Tuan, a lychee grower, lamented: “This year the weather is favorable, the fruit set rate is high, the quality of the lychee is better than every year, sweet and refreshing. But up to now, many trees have not been harvested yet because traders have not come to buy, consumption is slow while there is still not enough to eat.”
Not only is the price low, but harvesting lychees is also labor-intensive. People have to climb tall trees to pick bunches of lychees, facing dangers from insects like wasps, not to mention the hot weather.
In fact, the lychee growing movement in Con Cuong had developed strongly more than ten years ago. However, according to Mr. Kha Van Thuong - Chairman of Chau Khe Commune People's Committee, due to unstable prices and low economic efficiency, many households have cut down their lychee gardens to switch to growing acacia and cassava.
“Previously, the commune had more than 10 hectares of lychee, now there are only about 3 hectares left. Some of them are grown for food, not for economic purposes anymore,” said Mr. Thuong.
According to Mr. Luong Thanh Hai - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Con Cuong district: "Lychee cultivation in the locality used to be mainly based on the household model, without proper planning or consumption linkage. When the market was unstable and prices dropped, people destroyed the trees and planted other trees."
Many lychee farming households in Nghia Dan district are in a similar situation. Ms. Tran Thi Minh, a resident of Nghia Trung commune, said her family has 5 lychee trees bearing fruit, but the selling price is only 8,000 to 10,000 VND/kg.
“We have to hire people to climb trees to pick lychees, so the profit is not much. Every year, traders come to the garden to buy lychees, but now there are no traders, so we have to take them to the market to sell by the kilo,” Ms. Minh shared.
Mr. Nguyen Van Nam, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Nghia Dan district, said: Lychee in the locality is mainly grown sporadically in some communes such as Nghia Trung, Nghia Loc, Nghia Khanh... and not concentrated on a large scale. At the beginning of the season, the price can reach 20,000 VND/kg, but in the main season, it is only 8,000-10,000 VND/kg. Due to low prices, many households are no longer interested in expanding their acreage, only maintaining lychee gardens on a household scale to serve small-scale needs.
In Nghe An province, there are many districts that have developed lychee trees such as Con Cuong, Que Phong, Anh Son, Yen Thanh, Nghia Dan... However, lychee growing is mainly on a small scale in family gardens, lacking systematic investment and consumption linkage.
Due to low economic efficiency, many years of "good harvest, low price", most people have switched to growing other crops such as acacia, cassava or fruit trees with higher value. Notably, some remaining lychee areas are not properly cared for, leading to reduced productivity and quality, unable to compete with lychee in famous specialized growing areas such as Hung Yen or Bac Giang.
The problem of output for agricultural products, especially lychee, is becoming a constant concern for Nghe An farmers, when there is no close connection between production and consumption.
Source: https://baonghean.vn/duoc-mua-vai-thieu-nong-dan-nghe-an-van-kem-vui-vi-mat-gia-10299884.html
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