Building a reasonable plan for pepper production and export, improving quality, meeting international standards and promoting deep processing are the main contents in the development orientation of the pepper industry in the coming years set by the Association. The Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA) proposed at the VII Congress (2021-2023), held in Ho Chi Minh City, on December 18.
Mr. Nguyen Nam Hai, Chairman of the Vietnam Pepper Association, term VI, said that, with the continuous developments of the market, the Vietnam Pepper Association advised farmers not to expand the new pepper growing area, especially especially in areas with unsuitable soil. At the same time, converting and intercropping other crops to limit risks when pepper prices are low.
According to Mr. Nguyen Nam Hai, although Vietnam continues to maintain the number one position in the global pepper industry with 40% in output and over 60% in pepper exports in the world, it is also facing many challenges. difficulties from quality to unexpected fluctuations of the market. Therefore, in the coming time, the pepper industry must promote the construction of sustainable organic pepper growing areas, apply GlobalGAP, VietGAP pepper production standards… in pepper production and processing.
In particular, farmers, processing enterprises and exporters must link up to basically solve the problem of pesticide and chemical residues in pepper that are banned by consumer countries in order to improve the quality of exported pepper.
At the same time, diversifying high-quality processed pepper products such as pepper essential oil, white pepper from black pepper, red pepper, powdered pepper, seasoning products from pepper, and clean pepper packed directly into the system. global retail, continue to expand markets for high-quality pepper such as Europe, America…
In addition, investment links between export enterprises and manufacturers, processing and preservation; pepper quality management planning by traceability, geographical indications, to ensure product quality and stable prices.
General assessment of Vietnam’s pepper industry in the period of 2017-2021, a representative of the Vietnam Pepper Association said that the pepper area has increased three times more than the plan. In 2017, the whole country had 152,000 hectares of pepper cultivation, causing the output to increase sharply and peak in 2019.
When supply exceeded demand at a high level, it pushed the pepper industry into a price crisis and hit the bottom in April 2020 at a price of about 35,000 VND/kg. The life of pepper farmers faces many difficulties. Most farmers are still small and scattered production with an average scale of 1-2 ha/household and trade through many intermediaries, causing great difficulties for pepper quality management, greatly affecting the quality of pepper. quantity of pepper exported to fastidious markets.
From March 2021, the world pepper price has started to recover due to a sharp decrease in supply. Currently, the domestic price of pepper fluctuates around 82,000 VND/kg. In the pepper crop year 2021, the output is estimated to decrease sharply due to the reduced investment of farmers and the impact of climate change. Although the price trend has increased, the input factors and freight rates have also increased sharply, especially the route to America and Europe is also a big challenge for the pepper industry in the coming time.
English
