Sweet potato prices drop sharply

Farmers in My Thai commune, Hon Dat district ( Kien Giang ) harvest sweet potatoes.

Mr. Nguyen Van Vinh, residing in Hoa Thanh hamlet, Dinh Hoa commune, Go Quao district, said: "The price of sweet potato and pumpkin after Tet has decreased to 320,000 VND/quintal (1 quintal of 60 kg), while in the same period in 2023 it was 750,000 VND/quintal. At this price, farmers lose 3-4 million VND/cong after 4-5 months of planting."

In Giong Rieng district, the price of pumpkin sweet potato is only 300,000 VND/quintal lower than in Go Quao, and milk sweet potato is 200,000 VND/quintal.

“Before Tet, the price of sweet potatoes and pumpkins was 400,000 VND/kg. Currently, there are 12 hectares of harvest time left and no one has bought them. The price of sweet potatoes is decreasing, now at 270,000-300,000 VND/quintal, which is considered a heavy loss,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoang, residing in Nguyen Vu hamlet, Vinh Thanh commune.

Farmers in My Thai commune (Hon Dat) harvest sweet potatoes.

In Kien Giang, sweet potatoes are grown mainly in Hon Dat, Giong Rieng, U Minh Thuong districts and Ha Tien city with a total area of about 1,000 hectares, an average yield of 25-30 tons/ha, Hon Dat district alone has about 800 hectares of sweet potatoes.

According to some potato farmers, this year's unfavorable weather has caused a black fungus to develop, killing the potato vines, but there is no specific treatment.

To avoid market congestion during peak harvest time, for many years now, Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong, residing in My Thai hamlet, My Thai commune (Hon Dat), has chosen to grow sweet potatoes in the off-season, sowing from August to December of the lunar calendar and harvesting.

Mr. Cuong said: “Thanks to the solid embankment, I was able to grow sweet potatoes during the flood season. Before Tet, I harvested 15 hectares of various sweet potatoes, selling them at prices ranging from 400,000 to 520,000 VND/quintal, earning me a profit of more than 2.2 billion VND.”

News and photos: DANG LINH

Source: https://www.baokiengiang.vn/kinh-te/gia-khoai-lang-giam-manh-19120.html