A farmer harvests pepper in Bình Phước Province. Pepper farmers in the province have enjoyed high yields in this year’s harvest season. — VNA/VNS Photo

BÌNH PHƯỚC — Pepper farmers in Bình Phước Province are enjoying a bumper harvest and high selling prices this year.

The southeast province, which is one of the country’s largest pepper producers, is at the end of this year’s pepper harvest season and has seen higher yields compared to last year.

It has about 13,550ha of pepper, mostly in Bù Đốp, Lộc Ninh, Bù Gia Mập and Hớn Quản districts.

Huỳnh Thị Kim Phượng has a 2ha orchard in Bù Đốp District and has harvested about 4 tonnes of pepper this year compared to 2 tonnes last year because of better weather conditions this year.

Her pepper is grown under organic methods and has a guaranteed buyer.  

Her pepper is purchased at a price of VNĐ105,000 (US$4.2) a kg this year compared to VNĐ70,000 ($2.8) last year, she said.

“This year, households who still have large pepper growing area are very glad,” she said.

In recent years, pepper growing areas in the province have declined because of falling prices, and many farmers have not invested in tending their pepper well. 

Farmers are now selling pepper at an average price of VNĐ100,000 ($4) a kg, the highest in the past five years, according to farmers.

The increase of pepper prices this year will make many farmers expand pepper cultivation, and local authorities have warned them not to grow the spice in areas not zoned for it.

Nguyễn Văn Bắc, director of the Bù Đốp District Agriculture Services Centre, said the price of pepper was low in past years, farmers did not tend pepper plants properly, and thus they did not grow well and had low yields.

As prices increase, pepper growing households will invest in tending their existing pepper plants or grow new ones, he said.

Trần Văn Thành, head of the Bù Đốp District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, has warned farmers should grow pepper under the district’s plan and in zoned areas.

The cultivation of pepper should match with soil conditions, and the application of advanced farming techniques for sustainable pepper cultivation is necessary, he said.

To increase the value of pepper, farmers should grow them under organic methods, he said.

Harvested pepper should be preserved properly and processed deeply to produce high quality pepper products, he said.

Clean farming

More farmers in Bình Phước have planted pepper under clean and organic farming and have stable incomes and buyers in recent years.

Võ Ngọc Quế in Bù Đốp District’s Hưng Phước Commune has planted his 5ha pepper orchard under organic farming and gets higher yields.

Pepper planted under the method has a survival rate of 95 per cent and its value is 20-30 per cent higher than pepper under traditional farming methods, Quế said.

His organic pepper was recognised as a four-star product under the country’s “One Commune-One Product” programme in 2022.

In Bù Đăng District, Thống Nhất Commune established its Clean Pepper Co-operative in 2021 with the participation of 20 farmers to grow organic pepper.

Hoàng Văn Đình, chairman of the Thống Nhất Commune Farmers Association, said the association encouraged local farmers to set up the co-operative to stabilise their production.

The co-operative is linked with a company to grow pepper under organic methods and guarantees buyers for its pepper, he said.

In Lộc Ninh District, which has the largest pepper growing area in the province, farmers have set up 24 co-operatives to grow clean pepper. 

These co-operatives have a total of 604 members who grow 645ha and produce more than 1,170 tonnes of clean pepper a year.

Hồ Quang Khánh, deputy chairman of the Lộc Ninh District People’s Committee, said the district has developed clean pepper co-operatives since 2013, while their members have applied advanced farming techniques and reduced the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

The clean farming method helps to expand the market of the district’s pepper, he said. — VNS