Make organic pepper for sustainable output

Accordingly, organic pepper production with many solutions to reduce production costs and sustainable output is the direction of pepper farmers in the province.

Export still facing difficulty

Currently, pepper prices are fluctuating at 64-66 thousand VND/kg, down more than 20 thousand VND/kg compared to the good price of the previous harvest. Recently, pepper prices have been on a downward trend due to the influence of the world market. It is forecasted that the export of this item in the last months of the year will still face many difficulties while Vietnam and some countries in the world are preparing for a new harvest, exporters need to push their inventories before entering the new harvest season.

According to data from the Provincial Department of Industry and Trade, in August 2022, pepper export turnover reached about USD 4.4 million, down 2.4% from the previous month. In the first 8 months of 2022, pepper export turnover reached USD 20 million, up 8.9% over the same period.
According to the data of the Vietnam Pepper Association, in August 2022, the country's pepper export turnover reached USD 66 million. In 8 months, pepper export turnover reached USD 739 million, down 19% in volume over the same period but up 11.1% in value. However, enterprises and farmers exporting and growing pepper have not benefited because both agricultural production costs as well as export costs, especially transportation, have increased.

According to forecasts of some pepper exporters in the province, in the coming time, pepper exports will still face many difficulties due to the influence of political tensions in Eastern Europe and China's "Zezo Covid" policy. In addition, there is a reason that many countries around the world, including Vietnam, are about to enter a new harvest with the expectation of better yield than last year's harvest, and exporters are boosting sales to prepare for the new job.

Opportunity for organic pepper

According to the forecast of many pepper farmers in the province, in the coming pepper crop, the yield of pepper may be much better than last year's harvest. In particular, the model of clean pepper production, organic pepper production and the link chain from production to consumption has many competitive advantages.

Mr. Pham Van Thang, farmer in Lam San commune, Cam My district, said that last year, the pepper price was good, but the pepper crop was badly damaged. This year's harvest, pepper yield is better than last year's crop. Mr. Thang's family is one of the households participating in the local organic pepper production large field project. Prioritize production of biological drugs and biological solutions for disease prevention; using manure or composting to take care of the garden… According to Mr. Thang: “In the beginning, the production was organic, the yield of pepper was not equal to using chemical fertilizers, but it reduced the manufacturing cost somewhat. Our farmers feel secure to stick with the clean production project because there are local cooperatives that cover the costs at 4-5 thousand VND/kg higher than the average in the market."

Mr. Truong Dinh Ba, Chairman of Lam San Commune Farmers' Association is also one of the pioneer farmers in organic pepper production and now more than 2ha of his family's pepper has been recognized as organic. According to Mr. Ba, the whole province has 3.5ha of pepper certified for organic products, but the actual production area in accordance with the organic process is much larger. Specifically, at present, Lam San commune has established a cooperative group with 56 members participating in the implementation on an area of 64.5 hectares. In which, 16 households with an area of 22.4 hectares have converted to organic production in the third year and are completing certification documents. The cooperative group has developed a common production process for the group such as multiplying indigenous microorganisms as fertilizer, microbial plant protection drugs, composting trash fish, soybean residue as fertilizer, and established an internal management board, households kept work diaries in order to produce products of uniform quality.
Mr. Ba commented: “Basically, Lam San farmers have built a material area with a fairly high production level, high productivity and good quality, this will be an important premise to improve the role of agricultural product quality to meet the requirements of integration and active participation in the value chain.".

Currently, the localities of the province are replicating the organic pepper production model, building a chain from production to consumption so that pepper products have more sustainable output.