Yen Quang Commune (Nho Quan District) is a famous and concentrated potato growing area (taro, sweet potato) of the province. These days, farmers here are entering the sweet potato harvest season. However, instead of being excited like every year, this year people are less happy due to low productivity and sharp price drops.
In the fields of Yen Thuy village, Yen Quang commune, farmers are diligently harvesting potatoes. Quickly wiping the sweat from her forehead in the May sun, Ms. Nguyen Thi Linh shared: Every year, her family would harvest at least 300 kg of potatoes per sao, but this year there are few potatoes, and the tubers are small, with a yield of only about 200 kg/sao. In addition, contrary to the rule of "bad harvest, good price", the price of potatoes this year is very low, only 3.5-4 thousand VND/kg, about half of last year's price. My family grows 5 sao of potatoes, if we calculate carefully from plowing, seeds, fertilizers, this year's potato crop is considered to be worthless.
Having grown sweet potatoes for decades, Mr. Hoang Van Nam also said that he has never experienced both a poor harvest and low prices like this year. According to him, sweet potato prices are at their lowest level in many years.
"My family grows 2 fields of both taro and sweet potatoes. Taro has been harvested after Tet, this year's yield is not high, on average only 2.5 quintals/sao (every year it is 3.5 quintals/sao), in addition, the price has also decreased a lot, before it was more than 20 thousand VND/kg, this crop has decreased to 15-16 thousand VND/kg. Although the price of taro has decreased like that, we still make a profit, the income is higher than growing rice, but with sweet potatoes, we have lost money because the price has decreased too much. Last year, on average, we sold 6-7 thousand VND/kg, sometimes as high as 10 thousand VND/kg, this year it has decreased to only 3-4 thousand VND/kg of grade 1 sweet potatoes. If one sao of sweet potatoes cannot be sold for 1 million VND, how can we make up for the cost? Moreover, traders are also very cautious in purchasing, and if we store them in the house for a long time, the potatoes are easily damaged, we are quite worried, many families have to take the trouble to bring them to the people's markets to sell, trying to "save some work" - Mr. Nam said.
Talking with comrade Bui Van Phong, Vice Chairman of Yen Quang Commune People's Committee, it is known that the whole commune has about more than 200 hectares of potato cultivation, including taro and sweet potato intercropped and planted next to the crop. This year, due to the influence of the weather, especially during the tuber formation stage, cloudy weather, heavy rain, and lack of sunlight have significantly affected the yield of late-season potatoes. The yield of both taro and sweet potatoes has decreased. In particular, the price of potatoes is not the same as in previous years. Currently, the locality is urging and encouraging people to quickly harvest the remaining potato areas, freeing up land to focus on producing the Summer-Autumn rice crop.
Being a land famous for taro and sweet potatoes, due to the special soil, rich in humus and minerals, the potato products in Yen Quang have good quality, which is difficult to compare with anywhere else, both soft, crumbly, fragrant, rich and fatty. Potatoes have been associated with the people here for decades and have brought income, significantly improving the economic life of the people. However, in order for the "Yen Quang potato" brand to have a firm foothold in the market, not falling into a situation of unstable prices like this year, in the coming time, the local Party Committee, government and people need to join hands to develop potato products into typical OCOP products of the locality. Along with that, apply science and technology to make potatoes yield high productivity and output; increase promotion and expand the consumption market for Yen Quang potatoes.
Nguyen Luu
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