According to statistics from the Quang Ngai Provincial Department of Agriculture , in the 2023-2024 Winter-Spring crop season, the province planted approximately 1,430 hectares of chili peppers. This is also one of the localities with the largest chili pepper cultivation area in the country. Farmers in the province are entering the harvest season; however, the current price of chili peppers is only 9,000 VND/kg, causing many to suffer heavy losses. Chili peppers are a crop with very volatile prices.
The main market for chili peppers is China. Therefore, chili farmers profit in years when this market has high demand, and vice versa. Knowing the uncertainty of the market, many farmers still grow chili peppers with a "hopeful" mentality. They hope that if the price of chili peppers increases, as some years the price reaches 40-50 thousand VND/kg, they will make a large profit. However, in recent years, the price of chili peppers has plummeted, causing chili farmers to suffer losses.
Mr. Vo Nhut (from Nghia Ha commune, Tu Nghia district, Quang Ngai province) said that this season his family planted 400 square meters of chili peppers. This year's weather was favorable for the chili plants to grow, resulting in very red and beautiful peppers. On average, this area could yield over 900 kg of chili peppers, but the price is low, not enough to cover the cost of fertilizer and seeds. "My family doesn't dare hire people to harvest the chili peppers like in previous years because we can't afford a day's wages," Mr. Nhut lamented.
Mr. Nhut said that the price of chili peppers needs to be at 15,000 VND/kg for farmers to cover their costs and pay the harvesters, while for them to make a profit, the price of chili peppers needs to fluctuate between 20,000 and 30,000 VND/kg.
According to farmers in Ho Tieu field, Nghia Ha commune, the investment cost for each plot of chili peppers is about 5 million VND, with a harvest yield of about 1 ton. The daily labor cost for hired pickers is 200,000-250,000 VND/day. With a price of only 9,000 VND/kg, the income after investment is barely enough to cover the initial costs, leaving farmers with no profit. Therefore, even during harvest season, the fields are very sparsely populated with chili pickers.
Not only in Tu Nghia district, but also in Quang Ngai city, Mo Duc, Son Tinh, Binh Son districts, etc., these days farmers are busy harvesting chili peppers. Even though they know there's no profit, many farmers can't bear to leave the ripe peppers in the fields. Mr. Nguyen Lam (in Nghia Dung commune, Quang Ngai city), who grows 1.5 sao (approximately 1500 square meters) of chili peppers, said: "I just sold about 100 kg of chili peppers at only 9,000 VND/kg, earning less than 1 million VND. This year, the chili crop is causing farmers a lot of worry and anxiety."
If the weather is favorable, the chili harvest will last until May or June. Conversely, if there is early heat, the chili peppers are likely to be scorched, damaged, and must be discarded to make way for vegetable crops.
To help farmers sell their chili peppers, traders are currently buying fresh peppers and freezing them, waiting for the Chinese market to regain strong demand. They are also looking for new markets such as South Korea and Japan. However, these new markets require high product quality, strict inspection procedures, and much smaller consumption volumes compared to the Chinese market.
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