Even without a single Covid-19 case, a province's agricultural condition still be stark

Dragonfruit's price drops

Dinh Van Cu, who owns the largest dragonfruit plantation in Vu Nguoc hamlet, Vu Minh commune, Nguyen Binh district, said that the dragonfruit tree has a greater economic value than other trees. His plantation is anticipated to yield about 15 tons of fruits this year, but the price of dragon fruit has dropped to roughly VND 10,000–15,000 per kg for the large variety and VND 5,000–8,000 per kg for the tiny kind.

Vu Minh has the biggest dragonfruit plantation in the district of Nguyen Binh. To date, the commune has allocated a total of 40 ha for the fruit, with 30 ha now in the harvesting season.

According to Vu Minh communal authorities, dragonfruit is the primary fruit that contributes to the sustainable alleviation of hunger and poverty in the community. When the dragon fruit price is high, many families cultivate a large number of dragon fruits, earning between VND200 million and VND300 million each year.

However, from around 2016 to the present, many families switched to producing dragon fruit, significantly increasing the dragon fruit area in the commune and resulting in a year-over-year reduction in the fruit's price.  The output for dragon fruit still limits within the provincial scope, it is the primary reason for the price of dragon fruit to fall when production grows quickly.

Along with dragon fruit, courgette is having difficulty finding a market in Van Trinh commune, Thach An district. This year, farmers cultivate approximately 5 hectares of courgette, with an anticipated yield of nearly 70 tons. Nong Thi Ha, the commune's authority, said that it collaborated with relevant entities to assist farmers in determining product consumption and production. Courgette prices this year range between VND 7,000 to 8,000 per kilogram, which is lower than in past years, but consumption is difficult owing to the pandemic.

Livestock farming staggers

In 2020, Hua Van Manh, Chu Trinh commune, Cao Bang city spent more than VND 50 million to construct a barn of approximately 200 square meters in order to increase chicken production. He invested aggressively in producing 2,000 hybrid chickens, aided by the Cao Bang Economic Office's biosecurity-oriented hybrid chicken breeding initiative, which uses 70% breeds and 50% bran.

Manh said that he is presently rearing 1,200 hens, 600 of which are of consumption age. Since January, the price of the bran has risen almost a dozen fold, posing many problems for animal producers. He used to sell about 30-40 chickens each day; today, he sells just about 10-15 birds.

Not only families engaged in poultry farming are impacted, but also those engaged in pig, buffalo, and fattening cow rearing. Numerous families were forced to leave their barns or grow them sparingly in order to mitigate the dangers and harm caused by the Covid-19 epidemic.

Hoang Minh Dat, Director of Cao Bang province's Cultivation and Animal Sub-Department, said that the present complex and protracted Covid-19 epidemic would create many problems in the consumption of livestock products. Along with the fact that the price of feed has shown no indications of abating, it has resulted in farmers facing a slew of problems.

As a result, farmers must manage output in order to prevent further expansion of livestock in the near future. Due to the high cost of mixed feed, it is feasible to decrease animal consumption. Instead, switch to readily accessible feeds such as maize, cassava, and potato... with a reduced purchasing price to sustain output during this tough period.