In the days leading up to Tet, the atmosphere in Phuoc Dinh apricot blossom village, An Binh commune becomes quiet. Many apricot blossom gardens are no longer bustling with care, hiring laborers to pick leaves like every year.
Yellow apricot blossoms used to be a key crop, bringing stable income to hundreds of households. However, this year, purchasing power has decreased sharply, causing apricot blossom growers to no longer be interested in investing and taking care of them as before.
Mr. Tu Chat, a household growing nearly 1,000 apricot trees, said that this year his family has hardly sold any trees. According to him, traders come to the garden very rarely, and the price is much lower than in previous years.
Some people asked to buy it, but the price is very low, selling it is not enough to pay for fertilizer and medicine. Let's just leave it for fun, otherwise if we take care but cannot sell it, we will lose money," Mr. Tu Chat shared.
Due to unstable output, his family only peels leaves sparingly, without hiring seasonal workers. Some trees are sprayed with chemicals to make the leaves fall off naturally to reduce care costs.
In the same situation, Mr. Truong Minh Tam, who has been attached to apricot trees in Phuoc Dinh for more than 30 years, said that no year has the apricot market been as bleak as it is now.
According to Mr. Tam, previously a beautiful apricot tree could be sold for about 10 million VND. This year, traders only offered prices from 2 - 3 million VND per tree, making growers unable to help but feel sad. Planting apricot trees for decades, but this year it's considered just for fun. Some traders asking to buy also offered very low prices, unwilling to sell.
If the apricot blossom consumption situation is still as difficult as it is now, I will switch to growing other trees. Having been attached for a long time but not being able to sell, I cannot follow forever," Mr. Tam said.
Not only farmers, seasonal workers attached to the apricot leaf picking profession are also heavily affected. Many people said that this year there is little work, and income has decreased significantly compared to previous Tet seasons.
Ms. Le Thi Be Tu, An Binh commune, said that before, every apricot leaf picking season, she and many workers had continuous jobs. Every day of picking leaves was enough to cover family living expenses.
This year, the garden is less rented, some days there is no work. Seasonal workers like us have to manage ourselves, everyone does whatever they have to do," Ms. Tu shared.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Le Van Ty - Director of Phuoc Dinh apricot blossom village cooperative - said that the cooperative currently has 45 members, an area of about 3ha, with nearly 40,000 apricot trees.
According to Mr. Ty, reduced purchasing power makes farmers not enthusiastic about care, and apricot blossom trading becomes sluggish. This leads to a sharp decrease in demand for seasonal labor.
In previous years, the apricot leaf picking season needed about 100 workers, but this year there are only about 20 people left, a very deep decrease. Many workers have to leave Phuoc Dinh, go to work as hired laborers, construction workers or find jobs in industrial parks to earn a living," Mr. Ty added.
Cooperative leaders believe that if the apricot blossom market does not recover soon, the risk of workers continuing to leave the village is very high. At that time, maintaining and developing the craft village will face more difficulties.
