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HCM City: apricot garden owners fear loss with 2009 Tet sales
According to gardeners in Thu Duc district in HCM City, the apricot flowers to be sold on 2009 Tet may decrease by 30-40% as a result of bad weather, floods, counterfeit fertilizer and insects.
An unsuccessful year
Thu Duc is considered the metropolis of apricot flowers, as the district is the main apricot supplier to HCM City, with three main apricot growing wards of Hiep Binh Chanh, Hiep Binh Phuoc and Linh Dong.
However, local residents have had heavy hearts because their apricot gardens have been severely damaged from the flood tides in September and October.
According to Tran Ngoc Thao, Chairman of the Hiep Binh Chanh Ward’s Farmers’ Association, there are 22 ha of apricot gardens in Hiep Binh Chanh, and the income from apricot gardens is high enough to sustain life for local residents. However, the severe flood tide several months ago, which damaged the fence of the gardens, badly influenced the apricot gardens. Some of the apricot trees have died, while some others have blossomed too soon due to the flood. Currently, when going along Kha Van Can and Thu Duc roads, one would see the gardens speckled with yellow apricot flowers.
Nguyen Van Tuc, the owner of Thao Dien apricot garden, said that apricot flowers tend to blossom before Tet due to bad weather, and only very experienced gardeners can make apricot flowers blossom exactly on the days of Tet (in January).
Meanwhile, many apricot growers complain that they have suffered due to counterfeit urea. Gardeners in the Hiep Binh Chanh ward said that the counterfeit urea contains a substance, accounting for 40-50% of the product, which prevents the roots of the tree from reaching out enough to get proper nutrition.
2008 has proved to be a very difficult year for gardeners, as the fertilizer prices increased by 4-5 times over the previous year, and bank interest rates skyrocketed due to the financial crisis.
Apricot to see slight increases on Tet
Though the expenses on apricot gardens are believed to be sky high, while the output is believed to be dramatically decreased, gardeners dare not raise the sale prices to cover expenses.
Do Van Thien, Chairman of Linh Dong Ward’s Farmers’ Association, who is also the owner of the 3,000 sq m apricot garden, said that apricot flowers will be rare on Tet, as the central region has also suffered from the flood. However, Thien does not think that apricots will be more expensive. He said that the price would increase by only VND 100,000/tree, as sharp price increases will keep buyers away.
Thien said that the difficulties of the national economy have forced people to tighten their purse strings, and even middle-class people may say ‘no’ to luxury spending items.
Therefore, gardeners plan to focus on bonsai-styled apricot trees, priced at VND 300-400,000/tree, affordable for middle-class people. There will also be the VND 50-100,000 apricot trees for low-income earners.
Kim Toan
vietnamnet
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