Increased costs of input materials and fertilizers along with small production areas have made the profits of many rice farmers insignificant even though selling prices have peaked for many months.
Rice prices have continuously peaked since August until now, but the income of Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang’s family, Thap Muoi district, Dong Thap province, has not increased much because input costs have also increased.
Mr. Giang has 0.5 hectares and produces three rice crops each year. Each crop lasts 3 months and yields 3-3.5 tons of rice. To achieve this yield, he spreads fertilizer 4 times for a total of 250-300 kg, sprays periodically 4 times, and 5-6 more times if pests appear, the total cost is about 10 million VND, which means the production cost is more than 3,000 VND. per kg of rice. The cost of chemical fertilizers alone accounts for more than 50%.
Previously, the price of rice was 5,000-6,000 VND per kg, Mr. Giang’s family (4 people) earned about 30 million VND per year. Currently, one kilogram has increased to 9,000-10,000 VND, each year the family earns more than 50 million VND. It is estimated that each person in the family earns more than one million VND per month from growing rice.
Farmers in Dong Thap harvest rice. Image: Ngoc Tai
Rising input costs make profits from rice farming unstable, Mr. Giang’s family has to do more jobs from growing straw mushrooms and flowers, seeing this as their main income. Under favorable weather conditions, farmers in Thap Muoi grow 4-5 mushroom crops, and one flower crop for Tet earns more than 100 million VND per year. “If we only grew rice, my husband and I wouldn’t be able to send our children to school,” Mr. Giang explained.
In fact, from the end of August when rice prices skyrocketed, agricultural supplies and fertilizers began to gradually decrease after a period of time, affecting farmers’ production. Typically, DAP fertilizer increased from 13,000 VND to 15,000 VND per kg; urea fertilizer from 9,000-10,000 VND per kg to 11,000 VND/kg; Potassium fertilizer increased by nearly 1,000 VND per kg. Some experts predict that fertilizer prices in the last months of the year may increase.
Not to mention the fact that farmers use a lot of fertilizer, causing rice growers’ profits to decrease. According to statistics from the World Bank (WB), the rate of fertilizer use (NPK) in farming in Vietnam is the highest in East Asia, estimated at an average of over 400 kg per hectare, twice as high as the two countries Indonesia. , Philippines.
The World Bank said that although the level of fertilizer abuse continues to increase, Vietnam’s rice productivity growth is slowing down. Specifically, Vietnam’s rice productivity grew at an average rate of 3.1% per year in the period 1990-1995, decreased to 2.9% from 1996-2005, the next seven years was 1.6% and about 1% from 2015-2020. This agency warns that if we continue to use intensive inputs, farmers’ profits will shrink even more.
Professor Vo Tong Xuan commented that using a lot of fertilizer to increase productivity also causes more pests and diseases, leading to increased costs of pesticides.
Farmers in Nga Nam town (Soc Trang) harvest rice. Image: Nguyet Nhi
In addition to increased production costs, most rice farmers in the Mekong Delta have small and fragmented farmland areas, leading to low efficiency. According to statistics, the proportion of Western farmers with rice land area under 0.5 hectares accounts for 32%, more than 50% have an area of 0.5-2 hectares and only 16.6% have over 2 hectares.
In Dong Thap – the province with the 4th largest rice growing area in the country, there are currently 136,000 agricultural families with an average scale of about 0.7 hectares per household. At the end of August, the province announced data showing that rice farmers earn an average income of about 15 million VND per hectare per crop, half of corn farming households, only 10% and 5% compared to taro farming. and mango.
An Giang province also has statistics that local farmers own an average of 0.38 hectares, while rice cultivation areas of less than 0.5 hectares will incur losses.
Dr. Tran Huu Hiep, economic expert at FPT University Can Tho, proposed the need to guide farmers to develop into agricultural entrepreneurs – agricultural business people. To do this, the state must have a policy to increase the average area for farmers. Currently in the Mekong Delta, on average each household only has 0.4 hectares of agricultural land, which is difficult to help farmers make a living from rice.
In very unstable market conditions, making low income even more unstable, Mr. Hiep believes that if farmers want to get better, they need to combine rice farming with other professions. “Rice growing should only be considered as one field in the overall picture of the agricultural sector and rural development strategy and non-agricultural services,” experts suggested.
Dr. Hiep believes that it is necessary to reform policy mechanisms related to agriculture such as land, market, capital… At the same time, the state needs to invest in infrastructure development to increase proactiveness, in addition to promoting the improvement of rice grain quality and value to deeply penetrate high-end markets.
Ngoc Tai – An Minh