Due to the slow consumption of sugarcane, workers in this profession are also facing difficulties.
Like last year, this year's sugarcane crop, Mr. Nguyen Van Lip's family in Say Neu Hamlet, Phung Hiep Commune, Can Tho City continues to choose to sell dozens of sugarcane to traders. Mr. Lip said: "With 2 hectares of sugarcane of my family, last year I sold them to traders for 47 million VND, but this year it has decreased to 43 million VND. For households selling sugarcane by weight, the price is from 1,200-1,300 VND/kg, a decrease of about 200-300 VND/kg compared to the same period last year. With the current sugarcane price, farmers only break even or make very little profit because investment costs have increased by about 5-10% compared to the same period last year."
According to farmers, in the past, when people planted sugarcane to sell to sugar factories, the harvest time for ROC 16 sugarcane was more than 10 months, and for Suphan Buri 7 (Su 7) sugarcane was more than 11 months. However, for many years now, when sugar factories in the old Hau Giang province (now Can Tho city) are no longer operating, farmers have switched to growing sugarcane to sell to traders for consumption in provinces and cities for use as soft drinks. The time from planting to harvesting sugarcane usually takes only 8 months for ROC 16 sugarcane, and 9-10 months for Su 7 sugarcane. Although the harvest time for sugarcane is shorter than for raw sugarcane, due to the high investment costs, especially fertilizer and care, the production cost of each sugarcane this year is estimated by farmers to be from 15-16 million VND.
Having just sold 5 hectares of sugarcane (ROC 16 variety) of her family, Ms. Pham Thi Mau, in Say Neu Hamlet, Phung Hiep Commune, confided: "With the price of sugarcane falling sharply as it is now, the total income per hectare of sugarcane is only about 20-22 million VND. Thus, after deducting investment costs, sugarcane growers only earn a profit of about 5-6 million VND/hectare. This amount is only enough to reproduce the new sugarcane crop, there is no surplus, so the life of sugarcane growers continues to face difficulties. With the current unstable income from sugarcane, many households intend to switch from sugarcane to other crops after many years of attachment."
Currently, in addition to sugarcane growers facing difficulties, the labor force working as hired sugarcane harvesters is also in a similar situation. The reason is that many sugar factories are no longer operating, people only sell sugarcane by the dozen but the demand for sugarcane by traders is not much, so the labor force has relatively little work, some days there is no work to do.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, a sugarcane cutter and carrier in Hiep Hung commune, said: "We have a team of 10 people specializing in cutting, transporting and carrying sugarcane for hire for people. When the sugar factories were still operating, during the sugarcane harvest season, my team had to work all day and for more than a month. But now, each time a trader asks to cut a dozen sugarcane bundles, they only ask to cut 200-300 bundles/day. The cost of cutting and transporting from the field to the boat is only 5,500 VND/bundle of sugarcane. Thus, each person only earns 150,000-165,000 VND/day."
In the period 2010-2017, the annual sugarcane growing area in Hau Giang province (old) often reached over 10,000 hectares, some years more than 14,000 hectares. This was also the time when sugarcane created an attractive source of income for growers when many sugar factories in the Mekong Delta signed contracts to purchase raw sugarcane from people at high prices. Sugarcane at this time helped many households escape poverty and become quite rich. However, from 2018 to now, due to the difficult production and consumption of the domestic sugarcane industry, it has greatly affected the lives of sugarcane growers. Due to reduced income and difficult consumption, people have switched from sugarcane to other crops to create higher economic value.
Through the review of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Can Tho City, the current sugarcane growing area in key areas in the city is about 7,700 hectares, concentrated in Tan Phuoc Hung commune, Hiep Hung commune, Phung Hiep commune, Nga Bay ward, My Tu commune, Cu Lao Dung commune. At this time, farmers have harvested more than 500 hectares to sell sugarcane, with an average yield of about 100 tons/ha.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Giang, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Can Tho City, said: Based on the two sugarcane growing areas of Hau Giang Province (old) and Soc Trang Province (old), the Department of Agriculture and Environment will review the specific sugarcane growing area, from which there will be planning, investment orientation, and development of raw sugarcane growing areas associated with sugar factories so that farmers can feel secure in sticking with sugarcane. In the immediate future, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Can Tho City will ask professional staff in localities with sugarcane growing areas to continue promoting the transfer of science and technology to help farmers cultivate sugarcane with high productivity and quality, in order to have a good profit from sugarcane.
Article and photos: HUU PHUOC
Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/tran-tro-cua-nong-dan-vung-trong-mia-a188724.html
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