The "golden" taro season in Duc Linh

Unlike this time last year, when taro farmers suffered losses in both yield and price, this year, the vast taro-growing area of ​​over 200 hectares in Dong Ha, Tra Tan, and Tan Ha communes of Duc Linh district is in full harvest season, with both yield and prices doubling. This joy is clearly visible on the faces of every farmer and buyer of this agricultural product.

The joy of a bountiful harvest

In mid-October, we visited the vast fields of crops in full harvest season in Tan Ha commune, Duc Linh district. After a heavy rain during the night, despite the difficult access to the fields, large plots of harvested produce were piled high. Mr. Vu Van Thin, a farmer from Tan Ha commune, shared: "This year, my family planted 2 hectares of taro during the summer-autumn season. Thanks to favorable weather, the yield this harvest reached about 1.5 tons per sao (approximately 1000 square meters), with an average selling price of 25,000 VND/kg. After deducting expenses, we earned a profit of over 20 million VND per sao. In contrast, at this time last year, due to lower yields and prices, farmers only earned half the profit, about 10 million VND per hectare."

Mr. Thin is in his taro garden, preparing for the next harvest.

Sharing the joy of a bountiful harvest, Mr. Phan Van Huy from the same commune shared that his family had just harvested over 2 acres of taro, with both yield and price nearly doubling compared to last year, making the farmers very happy because of the high profits. Taro growers here said that with the suitable soil conditions in the area, taro takes about 5-6 months from planting to harvesting, with an investment cost of about 15 million VND per acre. With the current yield and selling price, farmers are making a good profit. In contrast, at this time last year, the selling price was only 10,000-12,000 VND/kg due to oversupply and market saturation, causing farmers to lose money or break even.

This is a post-harvest taro sorting and purchasing point in Duc Linh at this time.

According to our findings, this year, in addition to favorable weather conditions, farmers' diligent and bold investment in production has resulted in a relatively high taro yield. Not only has the harvest been bountiful, but taro farmers have also benefited from favorable prices, with traders coming directly to the fields to buy at 24,000-26,000 VND/kg. According to local households, they are currently growing two varieties of taro. The yellow waxy variety, which was only cultivated experimentally two years ago, has lower yields and a less developed market. The purple taro, accounting for 90% of the crop, is a variety farmers have been cultivating for nearly a decade, supplying both domestic and export markets.

Fresh taro is being packaged and sorted at the warehouse, ready for transport and sale in Ho Chi Minh City.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Suoi, a long-time agricultural product buyer in Dong Ha commune, Duc Linh district, said: “This year, local farmers have had a great taro harvest, with nearly 3,000 tons purchased from the beginning of the season until now. At the beginning of the season, the purchase price reached 26,500 VND/kg, and is currently at 23,000 VND/kg. From now until the end of the season, there are still about 1,000 tons of taro in the fields that will be purchased directly from the fields, sorted, and transported for consumption at wholesale markets in Ho Chi Minh City.” Ms. Suoi added that the taro market in Binh Thuan is currently very favorable, and the quality of this agricultural product is favored by customers for fresh consumption and processing for export.

This year, the quality of Duc Linh taro is highly favored by the market.

High profits

According to Mr. Truong Quang Den, Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Duc Linh District, from the beginning of 2024 to the present, the entire district has converted approximately 200 hectares of land previously used for growing waxy taro on land previously used for pepper cultivation, yielding 20-25 tons/ha. The selling price ranges from 18,000 to 24,000 VND/kg, generating revenue of over 400 million VND/ha and a profit of over 200 million VND/ha. Overall, agricultural production in the area enjoys many advantages for farmers. These include stable prices for fertilizers and agricultural supplies, especially rising market prices for some agricultural products such as rice, taro, rubber latex, and pepper, and relatively high yields for some crops compared to the same period last year. This has helped farmers increase their income and facilitated their reinvestment in production. However, alongside these positive developments, the district's agricultural production has been affected by prolonged hot weather, with some areas experiencing water shortages for irrigation and daily use. Heavy rains, accompanied by tornadoes, at the end of the summer-autumn crop season and the beginning of the rainy season caused damage to production and impacted the lives of the people.

Farmers switched to growing taro in areas that were previously prone to flooding.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Duc Linh district, this is also the time for harvesting taro from the summer-autumn crop. The agricultural sector of Duc Linh district, along with farmers in the communes, are focusing on planting, caring for, monitoring, and controlling pests and diseases on crops for the 2024 crop season. Through this, farmers hope that, in addition to the current high yield and price increase from the taro crop, other crops will also have a bumper harvest and good prices, thanks to the "golden" season like the current taro harvest.

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/mua-vang-khoai-mon-o-duc-linh-124750.html