Experienced cultivators of ornamental plants and trees, both flower and fruit bearing, are worried that unfavourable weather conditions and low prices can wipe out their profits this Tet holiday, their peak business season.

The unpredictable weather this year has seen many apricot gardens in HCM City blossom early, while flower growers in Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces are lamenting that this year’s prices are too low in spite of high production costs.

However, the growers are confident that there will be sufficient ornamental plants and trees to meet demand during the largest festival of the year.

Too much rain

“The apricot pots blossomed once in November, and many are blooming again. The quality of apricot flowers this year will reduce,” says Nguyen Van Hoa sadly. Hoa, who owns an orchard with over 700 bonsai-apricot pots and over 2,000 apricot plants on Tam Binh Street in Thu Duc District, points at flower buds appearing sparsely among the green leaves of an apricot pot as he speaks.

Hoa says that a lengthy rainy season and unexpected rains towards the end of the season have stimulated apricot plants to blossom early.

Besides the rains, apricot gardens have also been hit badly by the frequent high tides in the city this year.

Duong Ngoc Diep, owner of the Ngoc Diep Apricot Garden, also on Tam Binh Street, says that from August, his garden has been submerged twice by the high tides. Many other gardens have been submerged for a week, some even a month, Diep adds.

Ma Van Phuong, another apricot grower in Thu Duc District’s Hiep Binh Chanh Ward who has over 1,000 apricot plants, says that many orchard owners have lost about 40 per cent of their plants because of the high tides.

Higher costs

While ornamental plant growers in HCM City are lamenting the early blossoming of their plants, their conterparts in Cho Lach District, Ben Tre Province, have no such worries but are confident their plants and trees will produce flowers in time for the holiday.

Nguyen Hoang Phuoc, a resident of the district’s Vinh Hung Hamlet in Vinh Thanh Commune, says he will put 5,000 yellow apricot pots on the market for this occasion. He is worried instead that the low prices will cause huge losses.

“Apricot plants in Cho Lach will blossom at the right time for Tet, but the price is too low. The costs of fertilizers, pesticides and care are higher than last year and if the price is still the same during the Tet days, growers will suffer heavy losses,” says Phuoc, who has just sold 700 apricot pots to traders at VND50,000-VND60,000 (US$3-4) each.

Dinh Kim Hue, vice chairman of the People’s Committee of Vinh Thanh Commune, says that this year the commune has a total of 3,500 households growing ornamental plants and trees who plan to supply 3 million of them to the market, an increase of 500,000 compared to last year.

But “because of the high production cost, if the price is still the same as last year, growers’ income will reduce by 40 per cent. Last year, a flower grower’s average income was VND12 million ($706) per year. This year, however, it is expected to decrease to VND7 million ($412),” Hue added.

Bui Thanh Liem, head of the Cho Lach Agriculture and Rural Development Department, says that the district will supply 8 million ornamental plants to the market for the upcoming Tet season, meeting demand in the province and parts of HCM City.

At this year’s price levels, however, the district will only earn VND80 billion ($4.7 million), the same as last year.

“The high production cost and low prices are a worry for all growers in the district,” Liem says. (VNS)