Ministry urged to brace for sustainable pepper production

Ministry urged to brace for sustainable pepper production

The Saigon Times Daily

A farmer harvests pepper in her farm. Pepper is one of Vietnam’s 10 agricultural products with 2014 export revenue of more than US$1 billion each – PHOTO: THANH THUONG

HCMC – Experts have called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to quickly develop a sustainable process for pepper production to help farmers earn more profit and protect their farms from diseases.

Le Ngoc Bau, director of the Central Highlands Agro-Forestry Science and Technology Institute, was quoted by Vietnam News Agency as saying that Vietnam is one of the biggest pepper producing countries in the world but farmers have not been provided with guidance and techniques to produce this agricultural product sustainably.

In the past years, the institute has transferred pepper production techniques to farmers and helped them improve skills to achieve higher yields. Farmers themselves have accumulated good experience in growing pepper.

Therefore, experts suggested the ministry consider using farming techniques of the institute and experience of farmers to develop the sustainable process for pepper production.

Before the sustainable pepper production process is introduced, farmers are advised to use organic fertilizer and disease-resistant seedlings for their pepper farms.

Vietnam now has nearly 80,000 hectares under pepper cultivation with an average yield of 2.16 tons of dried pepper per hectare. The Central Highlands region accounts for 51.6% of the total acreage and the southeastern region 39.6%.

In 2014, Vietnam accounted for 30% of the world’s total pepper output and held more than 50% world market share. Pepper was one of the 10 agricultural products with each having annual export revenue of more than US$1 billion last year.

Figures of the ministry showed Vietnam exported US$1.2 billion worth of 158,000 tons of pepper last year, increasing 19.3% in volume and 35.9% in value compared to 2013. The export price of pepper averaged over US$7,670 a ton, up more than 14.7% year-on-year.

The United States, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, India and the Netherlands were among the top importers of Vietnamese pepper and made up half of Vietnam’s pepper exports last year. Pepper shipments to these top markets grew strongly in both volume and value.