Gardeners threw away thousands of pots of early-blooming raspberry daisies

On the afternoon of January 21, Ms. Duong Ngoc Diem, 36 years old, stood silently next to a field of raspberry chrysanthemums with nearly 1,000 remaining pots in Phuoc My Trung commune, Cho Lach district. In front of her, thousands of flower pots were gathered into piles by the garden owner using a tortoise cart and thrown away along the edge of the field.

Most of the chrysanthemums in the fields have bloomed prematurely and are no longer available for consumption during Tet. The flower beds were empty not because they were sold out, but because more than 2,000 pots were discarded due to damage.

This time last year, Ms. Diem’s ​​flower fields were bustling with workers harvesting and packing goods to deliver to traders from Hanoi. Flowers bloom on time, evenly and beautifully, and are purchased for 150,000-170,000 VND per pair. Minus expenses, the family profited hundreds of millions of dong.

This year, Ms. Diem planted 4,000 pots of raspberry chrysanthemums to sell during Tet. About a month ago, many traders came to the fields to place a deposit to buy at 170,000 VND per pair. However, prolonged unseasonal rain caused more than half of the flower area to bloom about half a month early. The gardener has sprayed chemicals and adjusted care to suppress the flowers, but it was ineffective.

According to Ms. Diem, this year’s costs increased significantly compared to last year. Coir fiber alone has doubled, more than 20,000 VND per bag, not including fertilizer and labor. The family borrowed more than 200 million VND to invest in the flower crop, but so far they have only sold about 40 million VND. “This year is like losing Tet,” she said.

Next to Ms. Diem’s ​​field, the flower field of about one hectare of Mr. Le Van Si (27 years old) with more than 10,000 pots also fell into a similar situation, of which about 8,000 pots were damaged.

Not only the flower fields of Ms. Diem and Mr. Si, many other gardeners in Cho Lach also fell into the same situation. To save money, many gardeners were forced to lower the price to 100,000 VND per pair but purchasing power was still slow. Along the field roads and canal banks, thousands of pots of early-blooming raspberry daisies are gathered in piles, waiting to be processed or thrown away, to reduce care costs.

Cho Lach flower village (former Ben Tre province), along with Sa Dec (Dong Thap), are the two largest flower and ornamental plant growing areas in the West. According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Vinh Long province, this year’s Tet flower crop in the locality has about 10-12 million flower and ornamental plant products, concentrated mainly in the communes of Cho Lach, Hung Khanh Trung, and Vinh Thanh. Of these, about 30% of the raspberry chrysanthemum area bloomed prematurely due to adverse weather.

Four days ago, the Department of Industry and Trade of Vinh Long province coordinated with Cho Lach commune authorities to invite content creators and farmers to organize a livestream to sell flowers directly in the fields. This activity attracted many people to respond, helping gardeners sell part of their products and reduce losses.

Farmers throw away thousands of pots of early-blooming raspberry daisies

Thuong Son