Most of pineapple areas concentrate in Thong Nhat farm (Yen Dinh district), Ngoc Lac district, Thach Thanh district, Ha Trung, Bim Son ...
Looking at the vast pineapple fields in Ha Long Commune (Ha Trung District) that has been abandoned, Ms. Mai Thi Tuyet, 46, living in the commune, said that her family has more than 20 tons of ripe pineapple in the field but her family would not harvest because of the low prices which are not enough to cover labor cost.
"My family planted one ha of pineapple. Taking into account from seeds, care, fertilizer, hiring people that costs VND120 million (over US$ 5,000). But so far the family has just reaped about 0.5 ha and got about 20 tons of pineapple, and they prepared to harvest about 20 tons more. However, the prices of pineapple drops to only 2,000 VND per kg (USD 9 cents), while no traders buy so the family leaves the field though the fruit is ripe. The weather is hot so it is going to be rotten soon”, said Ms Tuyet.
Mr. Tuyet added that last month the prices were VND 6,000 to 6,500 per kilogram but now it has dropped to VND 2,000 per kilogram.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Thanh, Chairman of People's Committee of Ha Long Commune (Ha Trung District) said that the whole commune has about 650ha of pineapple, 80% of which have been harvested with over 20,000 tons. But the pineapple are cheap hence people stop harvest. Meanwhile, at Thong Nhat Farm (Yen Dinh district, an area of Thanh Hoa specialized on growing pineapple), farmers also abandoned harvesting because the net sale price on the spot is only VND 1,000 - 1,500 per kg.
Mr. Nguyen Van Dien (resident of Thong Nhat Farm) told reporter : "The aromatic season is more fruitful than last year. One ha yields about 40 tons. But this year the price fell dramatically, less traders came to buy so my family rented the machine to destroy the pineapple field. It seems that the sweat of my family’s efforts this season is in vain.”
And Mrs. Nguyen Thi Xuan (living in the same locality) also complained: "My family planted 6ha with big investment, but this crop we only harvested half of the area, the remaining would be left rotten. We do not know when we can clear all the bank’s debt.”
Mr. Trinh Quoc Dung, Director of Thong Nhat Thanh Hoa Dairy Co., (one of the pineapple buyer), stated: "This year the planted area increased, along with the low purchase price so peasants are not interested in harvesting. My company is also gathering initial statistics in order to provide help, partly relieve the local people’s difficulties.”
