Due to the storm Damrey in end 2017, banana yield for Tet of Khanh Son District (Khanh Hoa Province) has decreased by 50 - 60% year-on-year. However, bananas have been purchased at highest prices so far.
Due to the storm Damrey in end 2017, banana yield for Tet of Khanh Son District (Khanh Hoa Province) has decreased by 50 - 60% year-on-year. However, bananas have been purchased at highest prices so far.
Carrying 7 clusters of bananas from the moutain down to sell, Mau Them (Ko Roa Hamlet, Son Lam Commune), said, “Banana price is going up day by day, so I tried to harvest to sell them.” Them’s family has 2 hectares of bananas. Last year, his family harvested 2 more than 2 tons of bananas, but this years, they harvested only about 1 ton as a half of their banana areas was damaged in the storm. With the current prices, his family may earn about VND10 million.
These days, Cao Thien’ s family (Du Oai Hamlet, Son Lam Commune) is also busy with harvesting bananas to sell for Tet. He said, “In normal days, the highest banana prices purchased by traders is only VND3,000/kg. Last Tet crop, best bananas were purchased at VND10,000/kg. This crop, right from the early last months of the lunar year, traders ordered bananas with high prices. Our 0.5 hectare may earn my family about VND5 million.”
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According to Ta Quoc Phong, vice-chairman of Thanh Son Commune, the market of bananas for Tet has started since the 20th day of the last lunar month. Vans collect bananas in Thanh Son and carry to many provinces to sell. In the 23rd day of the last lunar month, some traders bought beautiful clusters of bananas at VND20,000/kg, or even up to VND30,000/kg.
A banana trader named Nguyen Van Nghia (in Cam Ranh City), said, “Bananas of Khanh Son District are favorite of people in central provinces. Storms and floods damaged banana growing areas not only in Khanh Hoa but in many provinces, therefore there’s a deep decrease in banana output. It accounts for the increase in banana price this year.”
According to Phan Van Suu, vice-chairman of Khanh Son District People’s Committee, the whole district has about 700 hectares of bananas. After the storm Damrey, 40% of the banana trees in the district fell in, therefore the banana output declined deeply. However, the high banana price helps growers, especially the ethnic minority people in the district better.
Bich La
Translated by T.T
