Price of pesticides increases sharply

A rise of 10 - 30%

As the price of fertilizers hits an unprecedented record, the price of pesticides is ‘dancing’ too.

As noted by VAN’s reporters, the price of many kinds of pesticide in the Mekong Delta has increased by an average of 10 - 30% over recent years, some specific types have increased by 50%, typically herbicides.

In some provinces such as Vinh Long, An Giang, Dong Thap and Can Tho City, the price increase is due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time affected by social distancing procedures, transportation faces many obstacles, leads to transport cost rising and also the price of pesticides.

Particularly, the price of pesticide group to prevent rice blast disease and bacteria increases by about 10%; insecticides increase by about 30%. In localities that still have products in stock, the price increases slightly from 5 - 7%.

Specifically, with insecticides and planthoppers: Chess 15WG 15 grams, priced from VND 38,000 - 42,000; Virtako 40WG 3gram, priced from VND 18,000 - 20,000; Kinalux 25EC 480 ml, priced from VND 90,000 - 92,000; Radiant 60Sc 15 ml, priced from VND 28,000 - 29,000; Applaud 10WP 100gram, priced from VND 18,000 - 19,000; Pexena 106SC, priced from VND 95,000 - 100,000; Nitenpy Ram 50%, priced at VND 35,000, etc (per pack).

And pesticides: Nativo 750WG 6gram, priced from VND 15,000 - 16,000; Amistar Top 325SC 250ml, priced from VND 275,000 - 305,000; Beam 75WP 100gram, priced from VND 92,000 - 100,000; Tilt super 300EC 250ml, priced from VND 195,000 - 215,000; Fuan 40EC 480ml, priced from VND 47,000 - 75,000; Filia 525SE 250ml, priced from VND 140,000 - 150,000; Antracol 1kg, priced from VND 240,000 - 250,000, etc.

Pham Van Tuan is a farmer living at Vinh Thanh hamlet, Vinh Xuan commune, Tra On district in Vinh Long province. He laments that: The price of pesticides increases when the price of fertilizer has not stopped rising yet. The price of pesticides that are used more frequent increases sharly, but the price of pesticides that are used less increases less. In average, each bottle of pesticide increases from VND 10 to VND 20 thousand.

“Every thing soars in price, so the cost in producing rice rises sharply. I feel distracted in this crop, I really do not know if it is still profitable to make rice. The price of pesticides has increased so strong. I do not dare to buy expensive pesticides to use but to buy cheap kinds. Now I use it sparingly only when it is in need to reduce the cost and save money,” said Tuan in boredom.

Le Van Trieu lives in Dinh Mon commune, Thoi Lai district in Can Tho City. Also being in boredom, he said: In recent years, farmers do not get as much profit as before, even in some crop they can fall into deficit as much of earnings are used for buying pesticides and fertilizers.

Although the price of pesticides has not increased as strongly as that of fertilizers, it has also increased by over 10% compared to the beginning of this year. In fact, the price of pesticides Trieu bought is by paying immediately to the owner of the agricultural supply store, and with the households who buy first - pay later, the price was higher...

This year, the sharp increase in the price of agricultural inputs is really a big burden for rice farmers in particular and agricultural production in general. Because costs will increase more, while rice price is decreasing day by day.

Herbicide prices increase by 50% but still “sold out”

Nguyen Nhi Phuong is the owner of agricultural materials supply store Phuong Xuyen in My Phuoc commune, Mang Thit district in Vinh Long province.

“Some kinds of pesticides run out of stock or are scarce at times, so the price increase by 10 - 30%,” says Phuong.

There are high demands for most of the pesticides when the winter spring crop begins. Particularly, there are some based Glufosinate Amonium herbicide groups are out of stock eventhough the price rises by 50% (about VND 50,000 per pack). The reason is by enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City are in shortage of material and in difficutlty in import so they have to cut production.

Dang Quoc Cuong - Director of Delta Plant Protection joint stock company in Can Tho City, says by this time every year, the company usually produces a large volume of pesticides to distribute to markets in Mekong Delta and South East region for the winter spring crop.

However, up to this time, the company can only produce about 60 - 70% of the annual output of pesticides. The reason is that during the Covid-19 pandemic, materials imported from abroad faced many obstacles.

Therefore, the domestic source of goods is scarce, so the price tends to increase higher than before. In which, the two groups of drugs with the highest rate of price increase are herbicides, snail killers. These are the two groups of pesticides that farmers usually use at the beginning of the winter spring rice crop.

According to Cuong, since August, many agricultural materials agents and farmers have phoned the company to order in advance for fear of rising price as the winter spring rice crop approaching. The company did not have enough goods to meet the demand at the time, so it had to refuse many orders.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hien, Director of the Sub-Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection of An Giang province said: Currently, input prices are increasing sharply, causing difficulties for rice farmers, while the output of agricultural products, especially rice prices do not increase.

“In order to stabilize the prices of agricultural materials, in the coming time, the agriculture sector and related agencies in the province will have many solutions to prevent hoarding and accumulating to stabilize the prices of fertilizers and pesticides.

As evaluated by Hien, it is difficult for rice farmers to make a profit with the current input costs. Therefore, the agriculture sector recommends farmers to increase the application of technical solutions such as IPM, "3 decreases, 3 increases" and "1 must 5 decreases"... At the same time, watering must be saved and agencies should restart the program of integrated nutrient management to effectively use fertilizers and pesticides to save costs...

In Vinh Long, price of fertilizers and pesticides rises at the same time, causing difficulties for farmers too. Some pesticides have a high increase of several tens of thousands VND per product. Therefore, the province's agricultural sector has promoted farmers to use pesticides more economically, avoid waste, and adhere to the “4 right” principle (right medicine, right dose, right time and right way when spraying).