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Capital assured of plenty of veggies for Tet celebration
Sufficient domestic vegetables would be available at a reasonable price to meet the city’s demand for Tet, the Lunar New Year, Ha Noi Agricultural Promotion Centre deputy director Vu Thi Huong said.
The assurance was issued because of public fears that domestic vegetables would not be available following the record rain of early November that destroyed most crops.
A shortage would mean buying imports from China that are subject to few checks so that the amount of preservatives and chemicals they carry is unknown.
The quick-growing vegetables had been harvested to supply the city’s markets and slower growing varieties, including kohlrabi and tomato, were expected to be harvested in the days before Tet, said the deputy director.
New Year’s Day falls on Monday, January 26.
Municipal Agriculture and Rural Development deputy director Dao Duy Tam said that more than 8,650ha of vegetables, including kohlrabi and colza, were flourishing in Me Linh, Thanh Oai and Chuong My districts.
And farmers in Tu Liem, Long Bien, Phuc Tho and Thach That districts had managed to replant crops of maize, potato and soybean.
A Long Bien Market Management Board representative said the amount of domestic vegetables collected from the city’s suburbs had increased 45 per cent against last month.
Long Bien is the city’s biggest wholesale produce market.
"The first crop of slow-growing vegetables will be harvested in the middle of January," said Tien Phong Commune’s People’s Committee chairman Hoang Cong Dan.
The commune is in Me Linh District, the city’s major source of vegetables.
"More than half the district’s total vegetable growing area was replanted after the local agricultural authority provided farmers with 374kg of seed to overcome the consequences of the flood," said Tien Phong Commune’s People’s Committee deputy chairman Luu Van Lien.
Price is right
Although agricultural authorities say farmers have always had enough seed available to replant their fields, in addition to 10,000kg provided by the municipal agricultural department, farmers forecast their prices will be double this year.
"I will sell my kohlrabi for at least VND5,000 (over $0.3) a bulb, VND2,000 more than usual, in the next few days," said Quang An Commune farmer Vu Thi Thanh.
But few households in her Tay Ho District will be able to do the same; their fields are still waterlogged.
Tien Phong Commune farmer Dang Van Chin said he would sell his kohlrabi for VND4,500 (nearly $0.3) for each bulb as it takes about two months to have the cabbage, tomatoes and cauliflower ready for harvesting.
The commune is in Me Linh District.
But Tien Phong Commune’s People’s Committee chairman Luu Van Lien forecast the price would gradually reduce by the Tet holidays as more vegetables were harvested.
Viet Nam News
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