Harvesting cassava early to "run" the rain

This year, the rainy season came earlier than expected. Since the beginning of May, there have been several heavy and prolonged rains. Cassava growers were happy because the price of cassava had increased, but now they are sad because of the early rains.

Many cassava fields were forced to harvest early due to fear of prolonged rain and severe flooding (Photo taken in Phuoc Ninh commune, Duong Minh Chau district).

These days, on many roads in Phuoc Ninh and Phuoc Minh communes, Duong Minh Chau district, many tractors are busy transporting newly harvested cassava to purchasing points.

Currently, the purchase price of cassava is about 2,400 VND/kg (30-character cassava). A trader named T. said that most people sell young cassava to traders.

This means that people only grow cassava until it is about 1 month old and call traders to buy the cassava (buy cassava when the plant is still small); the care and harvesting stages are managed by traders. Each hectare of young cassava field from 1-2 months old costs about 60 million VND, depending on the quality of the cassava plant growing evenly or not.

At the beginning of this year’s cassava crop, traders were worried about low cassava prices and had to take losses. In recent months, cassava prices have stabilized, but traders have not had time to celebrate when the rainy season comes too early, including two heavy rains lasting 4-5 hours, causing many cassava fields in low-lying areas to be flooded due to insufficient drainage, forcing early harvesting, resulting in small cassava with little starch.

A trader said that cassava is still small, the starch value is usually under 25. The starch value, along with the low yield due to early harvest, and a lot of mud, means that purchasing points and factories buy at low prices. If there is no early rain, one hectare of cassava can be sold for 80 million VND by mid-June.

Cassava that had to be harvested early due to the “rain” could only be sold for a maximum of 60 million VND/ha. Meanwhile, the purchase price of 1 ha of young cassava is 60 million VND, not including the cost of care, fertilizer, harvesting, transportation, and the loss rate of about 20% due to waterlogged cassava… therefore, traders buying cassava this year will certainly lose money.

A cassava processing business owner said that some traders suffered losses because they bought cassava in low-lying areas, and cassava fields could not drain quickly enough, forcing them to harvest early. However, cassava fields on high ground have not been affected much.

If there is no prolonged heavy rain, the cassava crop will yield high yields by the end of June, and cassava growers will make a profit. However, the current weather conditions are unpredictable.

This year, when the harvest season began, the province organized a delegation to inspect the cassava purchasing activities of factories to clarify the issue of impurity assessment. Currently, cassava from fields brought to factories often has about 20% impurities due to being contaminated with mud and soil.

This business owner believes that growing cassava in the fields is partly a matter of "betting" on the weather. If the weather is stable and there is no prolonged heavy rain, cassava growers will make a profit this year due to high and stable prices, but if the rain continues and early harvests are required, cassava growers will inevitably suffer losses.

Tan Hung

Source: https://baotayninh.vn/thu-hoach-khoai-mi-som-chay-mua-a190971.html