Recover position for sugarcane: Each household growing hundreds of hectares of sugarcane is still healthy

Remove old varieties, not let sugarcane 'thirsty'

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Recover position for sugarcane: Rising from hardship

The 2023–2024 crushing crop year of An Khe Sugar Factory (a unit under Quang Ngai Sugar Joint Stock Company) was more than halfway. During the harvest crop, wherever we went, we could feel the excitement on the faces of sugarcane field owners in the factory's raw material areas in districts and towns: Kbang, Dak Po, Kong Chro, and An Khe town (Gia Lai province).

Mr. Nguyen Van Quy (65 years old), the 3rd generation of a family with a tradition of sugarcane farming, is producing more than 100 hectares of sugarcane in Kong Pla commune (Kbang district, Gia Lai). Mr. Quy's hometown is Son Tinh (Quang Ngai). Before 1975, his family's predecessors were associated with sugarcane. In 1989, Mr. Quy brought his family to Kbang district to settle and continued to stick with sugarcane according to his forefathers' tradition. In addition to his family's sugarcane area, Mr. Quy also joined a group of households interested in growing sugarcane and planted an additional 30 hectares.

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Recover position for sugarcane: 'Capital' of sugarcane struggles to regain the golden age

With extensive experience in sugarcane growing, Mr. Quy realized that the current sugarcane production is very different from when he grew sugarcane in Quang Ngai. Nowadays, sugarcane farming is light; all is implemented by machines; and growers just count the profits when the harvest crop comes. “If sugarcane farming in Gia Lai were still done manually like when I was in Quang Ngai, I could not grow up to 130 hectares like today. Currently, sugarcane farming is fully supported by mechanization," Mr. Quy said.

According to Mr. Quy, right from the beginning of the crop, raw sugarcane growers for An Khe Sugar Factory are invested in fertilizer and mechanization, from the plowing stage to the harvesting stage by the factory. These expenses are owed by the factory without interest. Until the time of harvesting and importing sugarcane to the factory, the factory then calculates each household's debt and deducts it from the sugarcane sale proceeds. "That is a great preference from the factory; sugarcane growers do not have to spend capital but still get the profit," he excitedly said.

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Recover position for sugarcane: Farmers increasingly turn away

Mr. Quy’s sugarcane yield currently reaches 75 tons/ha, about 15 tons/ha higher than 10 years ago, thanks to the favorable weather in recent years and also to high-quality sugarcane varieties.

To stabilize the raw material area enough to supply the factory with an operating capacity of 20,000–25,000 tons of raw sugarcane per day, An Khe Sugar Factory has recently researched and selected a set of sugarcane varieties with high productivity and quality. These new varieties are suitable for mechanization to reduce harvesting and transportation costs, increase farmers' income, and improve recovery efficiency in processing.

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Recover position for sugarcane: High prices, farmers are still not happy

In recent years, farmers in the Dong Gia Lai sugarcane raw material area (Gia Lai province) have reduced the growing area of sugarcane varieties that are not suitable for mechanized harvest, such as K59-84 and K94-2-483, and replaced them with new sugarcane varieties with high quality and productivity, such as Uthong11 and KK3.

Regarding irrigation water, if a drought like this year occurs, farmers growing newly in the sugarcane raw material area will be supported by An Khe Sugar Factory, with irrigation water costs of VND 1.5 million/year because there is no irrigation system in the area. With the above money, farmers take advantage of pond water or draw water from small streams to store it to irrigate newly planted sugarcane.

“Thanks to mechanization and the factory’s large pressing capacity, farmers can feel secure in growing sugarcane on a large area, and sugarcane is highly effective. In the 2023–2024 crushing crop year, 40% of my sugarcane area is now harvested, and all will be harvested from now until April 30," Mr. Nguyen Van Quy said.

Abandon other crops and return to growing sugarcane

According to Mr. Tran Van Du, who is growing approximately 100 hectares of sugarcane in An Thanh commune (Dak Po district, Gia Lai), before An Khe Sugar Factory was present in Gia Lai, the position of sugarcane in An Khe was still very weak. Farmers’ production was fragmented; each household only planted a few clusters of Thai sugarcane but did not gain any efficiency.

Previously, Mr. Du invested all of his family’s land in local people to grow agricultural products such as corn, cassava, and mug beans, which he then bought back for business. Since An Khe Sugar Factory was put into operation, Mr. Du has recovered about 70 hectares of land that his family had invested in people to convert to growing sugarcane.

“Since growing raw sugarcane for An Khe Sugar Factory, the lives of local people have begun to prosper, and many households have become rich. If not for sugarcane but for other crops, surely the lives of people in the Dong Gia Lai region would not be as bright as they are today. Sugarcane gives people not only a prosperous life but also an amount of savings to take care of big things in their families," said Mr. Tran Van Du.

Mr. Du added that if there is a concentrated sugarcane growing area, flat land, and favorable conditions for synchronous mechanization from the soil tillage stage to the harvesting stage, sugarcane growing will be very effective.

"This year, the factory purchases raw sugarcane (10 CCS) at the field at a price of VND 1.1 million/ton. Plus support for transportation costs, the total is about VND 1.2 million/ton. After deducting all costs, growers still earn a profit of about VND 900,000/ton, a dream profit for sugarcane growers," Mr. Tran Van Du excitedly shared.

Mr. Tran Dinh Son in Tu Thuy village, Tu An commune (An Khe town, Gia Lai) is 48 years old this year but has had 18 years of sticking with sugarcane. All that time producing sugarcane, but he has never seen sugarcane produce as much efficiency as in recent years.

"Previously, the average sugarcane yield in An Khe was only about 60 tons/ha; now it has increased to 75 tons/ha. With current purchasing prices, the least profit of sugarcane growers is more than VND 40 million/ha, while the most profit is VND 50–70 million/ha. Growing sugarcane is now very leisurely. I only have land; the rest is handed over to An Khe Agricultural Mechanization Enterprise to carry out from the soil tillage stage to harvest. At the end of the crop, the farmers only need to find labor to load sugarcane on the truck to take it to the factory and then count the profits," Mr. Son said happily.

According to Mr. Le Van Bo, Director of Tu An Agricultural Cooperative (An Khe town, Gia Lai), 100% of the cooperative's sugarcane area has been mechanized in the stages of plowing, tending, fertilizing, etc., and about 30% of the area has been mechanized from the soil tillage stage to the harvesting stage.

“In recent years, the weather has been favorable, so sugarcane has grown very steadily. This year alone, there is a risk of drought, and the cooperative's sugarcane area is at risk of lacking irrigation water, accounting for 40–50%. In areas at risk of irrigation water shortages, growers have invested VND 10 million/ha to pull pipes for drip irrigation, so it is also less worrying.

In the 2023–2024 crushing crop year, about 50% of the cooperative's 100-ha sugarcane area has been harvested. After deducting costs, member farmer households still earn a profit of VND 950,000–1 million/ton," said Mr. Le Van Bo, Director of the Tu An Agricultural Cooperative (An Khe town, Gia Lai).