HANOI: Farmers in Vinh Long Province are facing challenges due to the low prices they always get for King orange due to oversupply and complete reliance on the domestic market.
According to the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, 24,790 ha are under orange and they produce 1.2 million tonnes of the fruit annually. The King orange is the most popular variety.
Vo Van Phuc, a farmer in Tam Ngai Commune, has 2,000 sq m of King orange intercropped with coconut.
In the last three years, the price of the orange has stayed at 1,500 dong to 3,000 dong per kg, causing him heavy losses.
Pham Van Soan, another farmer in Tam Ngai Commune, said he leased 20,000 sq m of King orange farms for cultivation six years ago at 4.5 million dong to five million dong per 1,000 sq m per year, and had to stop leasing the land recently due to the long period of low fruit prices.
According to some farmers growing the fruit, it costs 250 million dong to grow one ha, and despite a high yield of 70 tonnes per ha per year, with the selling price of only 1,500 dong to 2,000 dong per kg, losses exceed 100 million dong.
For farmers renting land, the loss could top 200 million dong a year.
Many locals are switching to other fruits from King oranges. Vinh Long Province’s cultivation of the fruit is mostly small in scale and it is sold mainly to the domestic market through traders.
According to Le Van Dong, deputy director of the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, to deal with these challenges the province plans to upgrade the King orange value chain involving reorganisation of production, supporting traceability, improving packaging and promoting deep processing.
It is promoting clean and organic farming, calling on individuals and organisations to research processing methods for value-added products. — Viet Nam News/ANN
