Farmers picking pepper in Cư Kuin District (Đắk Lắk Province). Photo baodaklak.vn

HÀ NỘI — Crop failures have dented pepper production, leading to an increase of nearly 7 per cent in pepper imports in the first four months.

Specifically, Việt Nam imported 12,105 tonnes of pepper during the period, of which 10,456 tonnes was black pepper and 1,649 tonnes white pepper.

Cambodia became the largest pepper exporter to Việt Nam with 4,709 tonnes. Brazil came next with 3,915 tonnes and Indonesia next with 1,855 tonnes.

Indonesia was also the largest supplier of white pepper to the country with 1,493 tonnes.

According to the Việt Nam Pepper Association (VPA), mounting pepper import can be attributed to recent crop failures, which drove domestic pepper production down to 165,000-175,000 tonnes, 10-15 per cent less than last year.

The contracting production left Vietnamese firms no choice but to purchase foreign peppers to make up for the shortfall, driving up pepper imports.

Lê Thị Ánh Tuyết, deputy director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Bình Phước Province, underlined adverse weather conditions, pepper trees’ high age and the negligence of farmers as the main causes for the crop failures.

“Years of falling prices have disheartened many pepper farmers. These farmers have become negligent of their crops, resulting in low yield,” she said.

The deputy director also noted that several firms bought peppers from farmers at prices higher than market prices to discourage them from switching to other trees.

Lương Thị Oanh, chairwoman of a cooperative in Đắk Lắc Province, revealed that her cooperative produced just 30-40 tonnes of pepper this year due to early rains, far less than the figure of 100 tonnes last year.

"Yields of our farms have dropped to one-third of last year," she said. 

The chairwoman also remarked that low yields were not specific to her cooperative but could be observed in almost all farms in Cư Kuin District. Notably, numerous farms suffered production losses of up to 40 per cent.

In February, a report prepared by VPA forecast that pepper production in southeastern provinces and Central Highlands, two key pepper-growing regions in Việt Nam, would fall considerably in 2022.

Notably, Đồng Nai and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu provinces were expected to drop by 20-25 per cent in pepper output. On a nationwide scale, the drop was estimated at 10 per cent. — VNS