Farmers in Mekong Delta provinces have cut output by half due to COVID-19. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — With only a few weeks left for the peak flower shopping season during Tết (Lunar New Year), many farmers in Đồng Tháp, Bến Tre and Tiền Giang provinces and HCM City are worried because few traders are coming to buy.

Without much demand, they do not dare increase prices though prices of inputs had almost doubled from last year.

However, supply is not high either with farmers in the delta cutting output by half, even 70 per cent in some areas, including in major flower growing areas such as Sa Đéc Village in Đồng Tháp Province and Bà Bộ Village in Cần Thơ City.

Trần Văn Thái, a flower farmer in Sa Đéc, said most farmers are worried it would be difficult to sell this year.

Trương Văn Nhung, head of the Mỹ Phong Flower Production Cooperative in Mỹ Tho City in Tiền Giang, said total output this year was 70 per cent down from last year.

“Farmers have scaled down their production as they are worried about the low demand. They will mainly sell their flowers to traders. A small amount will be sold at local spring flower festivals.”

Nguyễn Văn Hiền, a trader in Tiền Giang Province, said every year he buys 1,000 pots of flowers and ornamental plants in the delta and transports them to HCM City to sell at Gia Định Park in Gò Vấp District, but this year, with the COVID-19 pandemic, he does not dare buy such large numbers.

The delta is the largest flower growing region in the country and the leading supplier to HCM City and southern provinces during Tết. — VNS