Quickly harvesting 300 square meters of lettuce, Mr. Lam Van Hung in Dai Tam commune (My Xuyen district, Soc Trang province) excitedly said that the price of lettuce purchased by traders at the field was 20,000 VND/kg, double the same period last year.
“Harvesting this area is estimated at about 500kg, earning 10 million VND. This type of vegetable is easy to grow, has a short growing time, and requires little care, so after deducting costs, the profit is about 8.5 million VND. With vegetable prices so high near Tet, this year we will have a bountiful Tet holiday,” said Mr. Hung.
Mr. Hung said that his family is currently harvesting green onions and Chinese cabbage at prices 20-30% higher than the same period last year.
Not far away, farmer Hua Dai Phuoc is also harvesting about 300kg of green onions at a selling price of 80,000 VND/bunch (3kg). Mr. Phuoc said that in the previous crop, a bunch of onions only sold for 20,000-23,000 VND, after deducting all expenses, there was no profit but also a loss in care. But now the price of onions is high, helping his family have income to happily welcome the New Year, and have capital to continue planting the new crop.
According to records in the vegetable growing area of My Xuyen district (Soc Trang province), all kinds of vegetables and fruits have increased by 20-50% compared to the same period, so farmers are very excited. In particular, lettuce is the vegetable with the strongest price increase, from 4,000 - 5,000 VND/kg to 20,000 VND/kg. For types of Chinese cabbage, sweet cabbage, onions, herbs, chili... are also increasing by 3,000 - 5,000 VND/kg.
According to farmer Lam Van Hung, currently people are only focusing on long-term vegetable harvests near Tet, so the daily supply of green vegetables is reduced. In addition, unseasonal rains also affect vegetable productivity, causing limited supply, leading to higher selling prices than the same period.
"At this time, anyone who grows short-term vegetables is considered to have hit the jackpot, has a good income to celebrate Tet and has capital to invest in land, fertilizer, and seeds to plant the new crop," said Mr. Hung.
In Soc Trang province, the average annual vegetable growing area is over 40,000 hectares. Vegetables for consumption during Tet holiday alone are about 3,000 hectares/year.
