Quang Ngai is one of the localities with the largest chili growing area in the country, with more than 1,000 hectares. Currently, the whole province has about 765 hectares of chili peppers entering early harvest, with an average yield of more than 82 quintals/ha.
At the same time last year, chili prices fluctuated around 50,000 VND/kg, sometimes up to more than 70,000 VND/kg. But this year, right from the beginning of the season, the price is only about 14,000 VND/kg and has now fallen to 5,000-7,000 VND/kg.
According to people and purchasing establishments, the main reason is that the consumption market is heavily dependent on exports to China. This year, demand from this market decreased, while transportation costs increased, causing many container trucks to limit operations, output was blocked, and fresh chili prices therefore plummeted uncontrollably.
In the middle of a red chili field, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien (61 years old, hamlet 5, An Phu commune) could not hide her sadness. Her family planted about 5,000 m2 of chili. Thanks to favorable weather, the trees developed well, with large and beautiful fruits. But the price drop was too low, causing the effort of care to almost "fall into the river and sea".
This price is not enough to compensate for seed money and fertilizer money. My family also does not dare to hire people to harvest because we cannot afford the labor costs," Ms. Hien sighed.
Not only Ms. Hien, many local farmers are also in a similar situation. If last year, chili prices sometimes reached 50,000-80,000 VND/kg, now it is only about 5,000 VND/kg. Abandoning it is a pity of care, but harvesting is not enough to cover costs, people fall into a vicious cycle of "bumper crop, price drop".
A representative of a chili export purchasing and packaging facility in An Phu commune said that right from the beginning of the season, consumption was weak. Purchasing prices decreased sharply due to increased transportation costs and stagnant output markets. Every day, the facility still purchases more than ten tons of chili from localities in the province, but the price is much lower than in previous years.
Not only small-scale farming households, large-scale farmers also suffer heavy losses. Mr. Nguyen Duy Phuoc (Binh Son commune) shared: "Every day I harvest nearly 2.5 tons of chili peppers but sell them for only about 5,000 VND/kg. Income has decreased sharply, not enough to cover investment costs, fertilizer and care labor.
According to reporters' records, along the sidewalk of Truong Sa road, the south bank of the Tra Khuc River, people are drying red chili peppers stretching nearly 2 km. This is the road passing through An Phu commune, a famous chili growing area of the province. On days when prices are low, the amount of chili peppers dried is even greater, hoping that when chili pepper prices increase, farmers will sell to partially recover investment costs.
