Da Lat vegetables now a daily feed for cows

Da Lat vegetables now a daily feed for cows More than 1,000 hectares of vegetables of all kind in Da Lat City, known for their fresh and clean quality, are being fed to cows as prices are too low to help growers recoup investment.

At the vegetable-growing village of Bac Hoi these days, green produce paddies are left abandoned, while tomatoes, carrots, lettuces, and chayotes are dumped in piles. Some of the fresh produce ended up being feed for cows.

“I have fed my cows on carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce so much that they are now fed up with these foods,” said Dinh Thi Lua, a villager and vegetable grower.

During her six-year experience of growing green produce, Lua has never seen prices plunged to such throwaway rates, she said.

“I had expected to enjoy good sales thanks to the good reputation of Da Lat produce, but…,” she sighed.

The agriculture agency of Lam Dong Province has confirmed that more than 1,000 hectares of green produce crops in the Central Highlands city are being used as animal feed due to the dirt cheap prices.

Huynh An, another vegetable grower in Bac Hoi, has sunk more than VND100 million into a 1.5 hectare crop of tomatoes and carrots hoping to sell at good prices before and after the Lunar New Year.

But only a fourth of his crop were bought by traders, with tomatoes fetching only VND8,000 a kg, and carrots VND12,000 a kg, prior to the Tet, which fell in late January.

Prices then dropped to a mere VND500 a kg for tomatoes, and VND3,000 for carrots.

As An could not have enough money to cover labor costs with such low prices, he had no choice but feed his cows with the produce, he said.

Refuse to cooperate

Nguyen Truc Bong Son, director of the center for encouraging farming activities in Lam Dong, said most of the growers suffering losses from the unsold vegetables are those who are not in a relationship with any vegetable dealers, distributors, and suppliers.

These farmers have started their crops without setting up cooperation with any businesses who would ensure the outlets for their produces such as selling to supermarkets or distributing countrywide, Son explained.

Growers who are in such a relationship are still selling their products to distributors and suppliers at stable prices, he added. However, these growers currently account for only 10 percent of the total areas zoned for agriculture in the province, he said.

Son said when contacted by businesses for cooperation, most farmers rejected because their crops were yielding good results.

“On the other hand, farmers can normally make up for the losses in one crop in the next crop, so they are unwilling to cooperate,” he added.

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