Hundreds of hectares of garlic in Ly Son District have been damaged by pests and diseases, resulting in a serious drop in yield. Picture: LK
During the harvest season, the atmosphere in the garlic fields in Ly Son Island District (Quang Ngai Province) is quite calm, no longer the busy and bustling scene of previous years. Because this year’s winter-spring crop, the area of garlic just lost the crop here and sold at a low price, leaving most of the households in a loss-making situation.
In the sparse, fibrous garlic field, father and son Mr. Le Van Chinh (resident in Dong An Hai Village, Ly Son District) are trying to harvest what is left, hoping to save some capital. In this crop, Mr. Chinh’s family planted 2 Sao (500 m2) of garlic. In previous years, his family also got about 800 kg of dried garlic from this area, but this year only about 1/10.
Garlic plants grow poorly, so the bulbs are not of good quality, the price is very cheap. Picture: LK
“Not only my family, but almost all garlic fields failed this year. The main cause is insect damage. When we first discovered it we used all sorts of drugs to try to cure it but it didn’t work at all. Not only the production dropped, but the quality of the tubers was not satisfactory, the tubers were small, the cloves were all broken, and now they cannot be sold for much dong. In this case, my family lost almost 20 million,” said Mr. Chinh sadly.
According to locals, the garlic fields are still developing very well within the first 2 months after sowing. However, when the garlic plant entered the bulbous stage, it encountered prolonged cold rain, which created favorable conditions for the development of pests and diseases, especially leaf-eating maggots. People have found all the ways and spent a lot of money to prevent this, but pests are spreading all the time. Many garlic fields are dead or growing slowly.
In this crop, Ms. Tran Thi Chau’s family (resident in An Vinh Village, Ly Son District) planted 7 Sao garlic. Due to the high prices of fertilizers, pesticides and varieties, she invested more than 100 million VND in this area. Like other households in the area, Ms. Chau’s garlic field became infested with leaf maggots, causing the yield to drop sharply and was estimated to be only 20% of what it used to be.
This year’s garlic production from many households is only 10 to 20% compared to previous harvests. Picture: LK
“With such production and a high selling price, it is possible that the capital can still be withdrawn, but now garlic is bad, traders are buying it at low prices. Previously, the average price of garlic was 70,000 VND per kg, now it is only 15,000 VND / kg, sometimes it is even criticized. A lot of money and effort, but little in return. But since I still have to harvest, many other households have even lost everything because the garlic field has died completely. The investment per stalk of garlic in this crop is more than ten million dongs, no less. That doesn’t count wages. In the last 2 years, we garlic growers have had a lot of problems,” said Chau sadly.
Only one crop of garlic is produced in Ly Son District each year. The sowing time begins at the end of October of the lunar calendar, after more than 4 months the harvest takes place. In last year’s garlic harvest (2021-2022), the Ly Son garlic tree suffered a severe crop failure when the production was only 30% compared to previous years. People are hoping for a good harvest this year, but are still left empty-handed.
Garlic growers are in an ongoing loss situation and are concerned that they will not have quality seeds for the next crop. Picture: LK
No wonder life will be difficult due to two consecutive crop failures. Ly Son farmers are still concerned about the lack of seed sources for the upcoming harvest. Normally, during each production season, people will choose the large, firm, high-quality post-harvest garlic bulbs for the next harvest. After two consecutive seasons of garlic failure, the quality of the garlic is very low, making seed sources increasingly scarce.
Dang Tan Thanh, vice chairman of Ly Son District People’s Committee, said Ly Son District will produce about 325 hectares in garlic harvest in 2022-2023. Due to unfavorable weather conditions and infestation by pests and diseases, local garlic plants lost their crops, production was estimated at just under 1,000 tons, a drop of about 60% compared to the garlic crop in 2021-2022.
“In the coming period, we will disseminate and guide people to shift from traditional production thinking to the application of science and technology and technical improvement. Only then can we overcome the adverse factors affecting the productivity and yield of garlic plants, such as natural disasters, weather, pests and diseases…” said Mr. Dang Tan Thanh.