As compared with previous years, the ongoing summer-autumn sugarcane crop in Hoa Bac Commune, Hoa Vang District is being affected by unfavourable weather conditions and the complicated developments of COVID-19. Many farmers are facing difficulties due to a slow consumption of sugarcane.

According to the Hoa Bac Commune People's Committee, the total area of sugarcane in the summer-autumn crop in the commune is 120 hectares, of which, nearly 70 hectares n the villages of Pho Nam, Nam My, Loc My, An Dinh and Nam Yen with an estimated output of about 2,000 - 2,500 tonnes are expected to be harvested at the end of August, 2021.

Chairman of Hoa Bac Commune Farmers' Association Le Minh Tuan said that due to the complicated developments of COVID-19, many sugarcane farmers in the commune are facing difficulties in fetching consumers.

During the pre-coronavirus period, farmers earned income from selling sugarcane juice to tourists visiting Hoa Bac, in addition to distributing it to many food and beverage providers, restaurants and industrial parks. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the absence of tourists, the consumption of milled sugarcane is being adversely affected, mainly sold to traders.

The married couple Do Ngoc Cuong and Nguyen Thi Hay resding in the An Dinh village every day go to the sugarcane field for harvesting. They now possess 15 acres of sugarcane. Each harvest season lasts about 1 month

Ripe sugarcane is cut down and gathered into bags, with each carrying about 25 - 30 cane plants purchased at a price ranging from 70,000 VND per bag. Due to the virus resurgence, the price of a bag has gone down to 40,000 - 45,000 VND.

"Growing sugarcane goes through many stages and the most difficult is the stage of harvesting. A sugarcane crop is grown for a whole year, so we always look forward to harvesting good quality sugarcane and getting the reasonable purchase prices. This is our main source of income,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Hay.

Farmer Doan Thi Xuan’s family (yellow shirt) in the Nam Yen village has grown more than 5 acres of sugarcane, but nearly 4 acres were damaged and sugarcane plants are too small.

“This year, the quality of sugarcane is lower than expected due to unfavourable weather conditions, so many traders are not interested in buying. After deducting costs of transportation and fertilizer, we could earn little money, said farmer Doan Thi Xuan.

Vice Chairman of Hoa Bac Commune People's Committee Truong Thanh Nhan said that, currently, agencies in the commune are urgently running points of sale of sugarcane juice with a price of 20,000 VND/1.5 liter bottle so as to boost consumption of this tropical plant from whose tall thick stems sugar can be produced.

Besides, the Centre for Fisheries - Agriculture - Forestry Promotion has reported the situation of stagnant sugarcane consumption in Hoa Bac to the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for directions to support trade promotion.

Reporting and Photographing by XUAN SON – Translating by A.T