Farmers are overjoyed as chili's prices reach record high

Chili price has never been as high as this year

These days, farmers in Tay Giang commune (Tay Son district, Binh Dinh) are in the midst of a bird's eye chili harvest. The chili fields show off their red fruits under the sun, and the chili field owners all has their faces filled with happiness because the price of chili this year has skyrocketed.

Mr. Tran Dinh Tho, Director of Thuong Giang Agricultural Cooperative in Tay Giang commune (Tay Son district) said: “In this year's winter-spring crop, Tay Giang commune has grown about 70 ha of chili peppers. Huu Giang farmers alone grew about 30 ha of chili peppers. After the Lunar New Year, we begin to harvest the early fruit. Traders comes to purchase at that time, offering a price up to VND 45,000 - 50,000 per kg depending on the chili's look. Currently, chili peppers for harvest are abundant, and the price has decreased, but it is still around the range of VND 35,000 - 40,000/kg. There has never been a year when the price of chili pepper is as high as this year. Farmers have won big in this crop".

Mr. Nguyen Van Chuc, a farmer in Thuong Giang 2 village (Tay Giang commune), who grew 3.3 sao of chili (Vietnamese measurement, 1 sao equals 500 m²) in the winter-spring crop 2022 - 2023, said that in this crop, my family grew F1 Viet AK 12 hybrid chili peppers that he bought in An Khe town (Gia Lai). "This chili variety grows well. It has good disease resistance, strong branching, and is resilient to adverse weather. In particular, this variety's fruit can be preserved for a long time, suitable for export and drying, so traders love to buy it."

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Phuong, Mr. Chuc's wife, pointed to the chili pepper field and said: "Thanks to proper care, my family's chili field grows and develops well, giving an estimated yield of nearly 2 tons/sao. From the beginning of the crop until now, my husband and I have collected over 1 ton of chili, with the selling price from VND 25,000/kg gradually increasing to VND 38,000 - 42,000/kg. We have earned quite a fortune thanks to this chili crop".

For this year's chili crop, most people who grow chili in Tay Giang commune (Tay Son district) are brimmed with joy thanks to the chili having a good crop and good prices. According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Vuong, a chili grower in Nam Giang village, in this winter-spring crop, his family planted 3 sao of chili, sowed in August 2022 and harvested in November 2022. At that time chili was priced at VND 15,000 to 25,000/kg. By March 2023, Mr. Vuong's chili field was still in harvest, and the price of chili increased to VND 35,000/kg.

“This is considered to be the year with the highest price of chili ever. In previous years, the highest price was only VND 30,000/kg, but this year there are reports of chili prices increasing to VND 45,000 - 50,000/kg. My family has collected over 1 ton of chili peppers since the beginning of the crop. We collect chili from January to May of the lunar calendar,” said Mr. Vuong.

Ms. Pham Thi My Hoa, also from Tay Giang commune, said, “This year, chili growers do not have to worry about consumption. We just need to pick them, bring them home, and traders will come to weigh them. The price of chili increases every day, and sometimes it also goes down, but the next day, the price increases immediately, never before has chili pepper sold and fetched such a high price like this year". 

According to Mr. Truong The Viet, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tay Son district, according to the plan, farmers in this district will produce 124 ha of chili peppers in the winter-spring crop 2022 - 2023, but in reality the growing area exceeds 155 ha. “Most of the chili areas in Tay Son district in the 2022-2023 winter-spring crop are grown on precarious rice land. Growing cassava and sugarcane is not effective, and after conversing to growing chili, farmers instantly have a chili pepper crop with record price so they are very excited,” said Mr. Truong The Viet.

Massive profit, but it is still a gamble

Binh Dinh plants 2,300 ha of chili pepper this year, an increase of more than 100 ha compared to 2022. In which, the "chili capital" Phu My alone occupies 1,293 ha. Phu My farmers mostly grow Capsicum annuum, also known as "horn chili peppers" in Vietnam. This is a large-fruited chili pepper that are commonly exported to the Chinese market. Some other farmers grow bird's eye chili, also known as arrow chili peppers, This is a small fruit chili pepper, commonly consumed domestically and eaten raw as a spice in normal meal.

According to Mr. Tran Minh Tuan, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Phu My district, by April 2023, approximately 80% of peppers grown in Phu My area had been harvested. This year, chili peppers in Phu My also experience a sudden increase in price, ranging from VND 30,000 to 35,000/kg because the Chinese market has made a strong comeback in terms of consumption.

According to Mr. Luong Van Khoa, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Phu Cat district, chili pepper prices constantly fluctuate. Sometimes the price in the morning is different from the price in the afternoon, but in general, from the beginning of the crop until now, the price of chili pepper in Phu Cat remain high and stable.

"Chili farmers had made great profits, but it is true that this crop's output is almost entirely dependent on the Chinese market, and export is precarious. Therefore, every year we only produce according to the plan, We do not encourage farmers to increase the area," said Mr. Luong Van Khoa.

According to chili growers in Binh Dinh, chili peppers only have 1 outlet, which is the Chinese market, if this market is "clogged", the chili peppers would be left to rot. There would be few buyers due to little domestic consumption.

Many people say that chili farming is like "gambling". If the Chinese market consumption is strong, the price will be very high since horn chili peppers have a heavy weight because of the large fruit. As for bird's eye chili peppers, if they cannot be sold in the Chinese market, they can still be sold to establishments specializing in processing chili sauce, or sold to agents to process into chili powder for sale.

According to experts, with the current high prices of fertilizers and pesticides, each sao of chili, if farmers want ot take properly care of chili pepper, they will have to invest VND 10 million/sao. This year, the price of chili has increased to only VND 30,000/kg on average, and the average yield is only 1.5 tons/sao. Minus the VND 10 million investment in fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds, along with the cost of hiring labor throughout the crop, the grower can still gain a net profit of approximately VND 25 million/sao.

If the yield of chili reaches 2 tons/sao like the chili field of Mr. Nguyen Van Chuc in Thuong Giang 2 hamlet, Tay Giang commune (Tay Son district, Binh Dinh), farmers would profit even more. Chili plants have a harvest time that lasts up to 6 months. The first batch can be harvested for about 10 days, and the fruits are all gone. Then after about one month of care, the chili pepper plants can be harvested again. The process goes on until the end of the crop.

Mr. Tran Minh Tuan, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Phu My district said, “In 2023, Phu My will continue to maintain the growing area of chili pepper at 1,200 ha. The district's agricultural sector is urgently reviewing in order to register for the đevelopment of growing area codes for chili peppers, and at the same time guide farmers to apply VietGAP farming techniques to attract chili exporters to participate in the link chain and consume the products for farmers".