The remaing area of pepper plants in the district tops 2,500 hectares now, he added.
The current price of pepper hovered around VND44,000 per kilogram, the lowest level in the past years.
Cultivation of pepper requires high expenses, thus with such price level, farmers are unable to earn profits. Therefore, local farmers dare not to regrow pepper but replace the area of dead or exhausted pepper plants with passion fruit plants, Inca peanuts or fast growing crops for soil improvement.
The Department also told farmers to keep taking care of the area of pepper plants which are still alive and give high productivity and switch to grow other lucrative crops in the area of exhausted pepper plants.
