Despite a bumper crop of chili peppers, why are farmers left empty-handed?

For the 2025-2026 Winter-Spring crop season, the entire province planted approximately 1,000 hectares of chili peppers. Farmers are currently entering the harvest season; however, the price of fresh chili peppers is now only around 5,000-6,000 VND/kg, causing many to suffer heavy losses.

ZNews•19/04/2026

In An Phu commune, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien (61 years old) said that her family planted about 500 square meters of chili peppers. Although the chili peppers yielded a good harvest with beautiful fruits this season, the low selling price made harvesting unprofitable.

"The cost of fertilizer and pesticides is nearly 7 million dong, not including labor. At this price, we can't even cover the costs, so we don't dare hire people to harvest," Mrs. Hien said.

Farmers in Quang Ngai are harvesting chili peppers.

Similarly, Mr. Dinh Hoang Ha (residing in An Phu commune) said that his family planted 1,000 square meters of chili peppers. This year, the yield was quite good, but the low price significantly reduced the economic efficiency. "The cost of hiring people to pick chili peppers is already 200,000 - 250,000 VND per day. Now, if we hire them, we'll lose even more, so the family has to harvest them ourselves to reduce some of the costs," Mr. Ha shared.

According to Mr. Ha, if the price of fresh chili peppers fluctuates between 70,000 and 80,000 VND/kg in 2025, this year it is only 5,000 to 6,000 VND/kg. Throwing them away is a waste, but harvesting them doesn't cover costs, leaving farmers in a vicious cycle of "good harvest, low prices." The price of chili peppers needs to reach around 15,000 VND/kg for farmers to cover production costs, and to make a profit, the price needs to be between 20,000 and 30,000 VND/kg.

The current price of chili peppers is only around 5,000 VND/kg, leaving farmers in a desperate situation.

The main market for chili peppers in Quang Ngai is China, primarily through traders. Therefore, chili farmers profit in years when this market is strong, and vice versa. Despite knowing the risks, many farmers continue to grow chili peppers, gambling on price. There have been times, such as in 2025, when prices rose to 70,000-80,000 VND/kg, yielding high profits. However, the unpredictable market fluctuations mean that production always carries significant risks.

Recently, import demand has decreased, while transportation costs have increased, slowing down procurement. Currently, traders are buying fresh chili peppers, freezing or drying them to extend their shelf life, and waiting for the Chinese market to regain strong demand for chili peppers before selling them.

Farmers are drying chili peppers, waiting for higher prices to sell them.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Trung, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quang Ngai province, the planning of chili growing areas is not yet clear, while the production of farmers is still spontaneous and expands rapidly, leading to oversupply and unstable output.

"To mitigate the 'bumper harvest, low prices' situation, the provincial agricultural sector advises farmers to plant on a reasonable scale and strengthen links with businesses to ensure product sales. This will stabilize production and reduce price risks; processing and preservation solutions are also needed to reduce short-term consumption pressure," Mr. Trung emphasized.