Vinh Long calls for investment
Vinh Long calls for investment
The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Vinh Long is creating favourable conditions for investors to pour money into the construction of sweet-potato processing plants, according to Nguyen Hoang Hoc, head of the province's People's Committee Office.
Farmers in Vinh Long, the Delta's largest sweet-potato cultivation area, now have a large quantity of sweet potatoes in stock as Chinese traders' purchases have dropped by 40-50 per cent.
Previously, Chinese traders bought about 500-600 tonnes of Japanese sweet potato a day in Vinh Long, according to local traders who sell to the Chinese agents.
The price of Japanese sweet potato in the Delta last Wednesday fell to VND160,000-170,000 per 100 kilos compared to VND1 million per 100 kilos last year.
Of 9,255 ha of sweet potato in Vinh Long, 70 per cent are of the Japanese sweet-potato variety, according to the province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Many farmers who grow Japanese sweet potato are facing losses because of the price decline.
Meanwhile, farmers who grow white-flesh sweet potato and red-flesh sweet potato for the domestic market have sold at good prices, VND220,000-360,000 per 100 kilos.
In recent years, despite warnings from local authorities, many farmers have switched from planting rice to Japanese sweet potato because of the high price of Japanese sweet potato.
To help farmers sell sweet potato, the Vinh Long People's Committee has ordered agencies to find more outlets at home and abroad for sweet potato.
The committee has also asked local authorities and the agriculture sector to encourage farmers to not expand the cultivation area of Japanese sweet potato.
Local authorities and the agriculture sector have also been asked to reduce reliance on the Chinese market by carefully calculating the kind and number of sweet-potato varieties to grow to ensure that all of the supply can be sold to domestic and export markets.
vietnamnews
