Revival in full bloom at Lam Dong flower gardens

These days, the local family of Hoang Minh Lieu in Dan Kia residential group, Lac Duong Town, Lac Duong District, Lam Dong Province, are busy taking care of 0.5ha of roses to prepare for the upcoming Vietnamese Teacher’s Day that falls on November 20.

The 30-year-old farmer said that all local gardeners have felt excited when the flower markets have resumed normal activities, leading to an increase in orders and prices since mid-October. His family cuts over 2,000 branches of roses every two days on their 0.5ha garden to supply to the markets.

He said: “The price of flowers sold to traders in the free market on Vietnamese Women’s Day on October 20 reached VND5,000 per branch. This is the ideal price that could enable gardeners like us to get a high profit. Also thanks to the last batch of flowers, my family has revenue to revive our production."

Currently, Lieu's family has spent the revenue collected from the flower season of October 20 on paying wages to workers and investing in buying pesticides and fertilizers to promote plants, focusing on preparations for markets on November 20 and Lunar New Year.

Another local family in Lac Duong Town, Cil Noan's, is also seen engrossed in taking care of their 0.8ha of roses.

According to him, he has been working as a gardener for years but has never suffered such a loss of income like this year due to the impacts of the pandemic. In the past, there was a period when flower prices dropped dramatically because supply exceeded demand, but they have never been as low as that of this year.

"This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has made flower growers unable to sell their products and therefore suffer from revenue loss continuously for several months," Noan said.

He added that the market has been stabilized, especially thanks to the October 20 occasion, which will provide rose growers with an extremely important source of income.

According to locals, gardeners’ reinvestment of production has faced more difficulties than before because agents of seed and fertilizer do not maintain "debit" contracts.

Therefore, they have to proactively prepare the money to buy fertilizers and other agricultural materials. The increase in the price of roses on the occasion of October 20 has helped gardeners get money for reinvestment and production.

Hoang Xuan Hai, Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Lac Duong District, said that the complicated situation of the COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted some local production and consumption chains of vegetables and flowers. Particularly, about 300ha of roses planted in Lac Duong District has faced difficulties in their output.

During the time when the market was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 50 hectares of flowers were converted to vegetable production to adapt flexibly to the situation. Currently, when the market has been stabilized again, locals have harvested vegetables in this area and converted it back to the flower-growing area.

“Since October, the COVID-19 pandemic has been basically controlled, the transportation and circulation of goods between localities have been smooth, so the production and consumption of vegetables and flowers of the locals have gradually stabilized,” said Hai.

According to Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee, the weather is basically favorable for planting, sowing and caring for plants in the first 9 months of the year so the gardeners have invested in tending, pruning, and harvesting some perennial plants, ensuring to fulfill the set plan.

They have also focused on the production of short-term vegetable areas through conversion of areas growing flower and other crops while implementing intensive farming measures to increase crops to ensure the supply of vegetables, tubers, and fruits to the market, especially in 16 provinces and cities in the south that have been severely affected by the COVID-19 epidemic.

The total cultivated area of Lam Dong province reaches about 337,961 ha, up 0.54% over the same period, of which: annual crops 81,631 ha, up 3.81%; perennial crops 256,330 ha, an increase of 0.53%. Grain food is estimated at 114,189 tons, down 2.24%; vegetable production of all kinds was 1,513 thousand tons, up 3.6%; flowers of all kinds, 1,919 million flowers/branch, up 3% over the same period.

The agricultural production area applying high technology is about 62,000 hectares (accounting for 20.8% of the cultivated land), of which: vegetables of all kinds 25,509 hectares; flowers of all kinds 2,193 ha…