Ninh Giang Flower Village was recognized as a traditional craft village by the Provincial People's Committee in 2016 and received collective trademarks for “Ninh Giang Chrysanthemums" in 2017. It is one of the largest yellow daisy hubs in the Southern Central region of the country.
Mr. Tran Van Hieu, 47, who has been growing daisies for over 10 years, said that the weather has been quite favorable this year, therefore the flowers are easy to grow and expected to flourish on Tet holidays.
The large pots of types of daisies were planted in mid-June while the small pots were planted in mid-August. The plants are growing well and supported with bamboo sticks to stabilize the stems, ensuring flowers bloom beautifully, he added.
However, Hieu and other flower growers of the village are concerned about the rising costs of fertilizers and labor which have increased by more than 10 percent, setting higher prices for flower pots than previous years.
Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Ninh Giang Ward, Phan Sang said that the local households primarily grow chrysanthemums and yellow Asteraceae. This year, the number of pots of flowers to serve the demand of customers during the Lunar New Year is about 35,000, down 15 percent compared to last year. The number of households growing flowers has dropped to nearly 100, down from 120 households last year.
There are many reasons causing this decrease in the flower quantity and the number of households growing flowers, such as high costs of fertilizers and labor, competitiveness from flowers of provinces in the Mekong Delta, and narrow land divisions for farming, Mr. Sang stressed.
