Vietnam islanders spice life with pepper
PHU QUOC ISLAND - Farmers on
southern Vietnam's Phu Quoc Island
are turning to pepper to spice up
their lives, but many fear the business
may have a dark side, despite a
booming export market.
Vietnam has become one of the
world's top suppliers of black
pepper, and local islanders have
rushed to cash in on export windfalls.
But for folk more used to smalltime
farming or fishing in a remote corner
of the Communist-ruled country,
world markets are a huge mystery.
Some worry they may not be getting
the best deal from savvy traders in
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's
commercial hub where people are
rekindling the free-wheeling,
streetwise ways it enjoyed as Saigon
before the Communists took over in
1975.
``When talking about farming on Phu
Quoc we can only talk about pepper
as it is the only crop with value,'' says
Le Minh Mau, 60, a typical
smallholder.
``But we have no sources of
information on world prices,'' he
says. ``Maybe when the agents come
here they lie about the export
prices.''
Mau grows pepper in a plot of
around one hectare (2.5 acres) in
size on the island, located 47 km (29
miles) off the coast of southern
Vietnam on the maritime boundary
with Cambodia.
His last harvest was completed in
June and yielded around five tonnes
of black pepper which sold for
50,000 dong per kilogram ($3.6).
Earlier this month Vietnamese
pepper was selling for around
$4,000 per tonne FOB Saigon Port.
PEPPER RULES
Small pepper plantations with their
distinctive crowded, green chimney
growths lined in close-knit grids, dot
the 593 square kilometre (220
square mile) island.
Local authorities estimate acreage
under the crop in recent years has
risen to 650 hectares (1,606 acres),
although farmers say the actual figure
is closer to 1,000 hectares (2,471
acres), having been just 100 hectares
(247 acres) at the end of the
Vietnam War in 1975.
Output from this year's crop reached
a record 1,000 tonnes, compared
with 800 tonnes in 1998, local
authorities estimate.
With almost perfect weather so far
this year farmers on the island predict
a bumper harvest in 2000.
Le Minh Dung, vice-chairman of Phu
Quoc people's committee, said all
pepper on the island was grown by
private smallholders and with new
acreage coming on line it was hoped
some 1,250 tonnes would be
harvested next year.
Harvesting takes place from
February to June and the country
ships up to 90 to 95 percent of its
crop.
Vietnam's pepper exports soared in
the first half of the year to 23,800
tonnes, up 300 percent from the
same period last year. Black pepper
export revenue jumped to $91
million in that period, from $35
million the previous year.
GROWERS WARY OF MIDDLEMEN
Van Van Su, 67, a Phu Quoc
pepper grower with around two
hectares (4.942 acres) and 5,000
pepper chimneys -- each of which
holds up to five plants twisting round
a central four-metre (13- foot) high
wooden pole -- said farmers were at
the mercy of middlemen.
The living room of his modest
three-room home doubles as a
bedroom and pepper processing
plant. Two women hand-filled nylon
sacks with the dried commodity
which was strewn across the floor,
and on the bed Su's son-in-law
cuddled a two-month old baby girl.
``We have no rights to fix the price,''
Su said. ``It is difficult, it is the
Saigon people who come and set the
price.
``Even if we were to bring the
pepper directly to Ho Chi Minh City
to sell we would not be able to carry
large quantities.''
Farmers said Phu Quoc authorities
had promised initiatives to assist
pepper growers, but so far nothing
had materialised.
Low interest loans of up to 40 million
dong ($2,870) were available from
the Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development, but the money had to
be repaid within a year, they added.
For Phu Quoc's 70,000 people, the
main options are limited to pepper
and other small-scale cash crops, or
fishing-related work.
Dung of the people's committee said
pepper growing, which employed
around 10,000 people, offered the
chance of salaried employment for
labourers and a secure and adequate
income for the farmers.
This was not always the case. In
1990 the price crashed to 6,000
dong per kilogram, less than the then
going price for fish.
``In 30 years of pepper growing I
have a lot of experience,'' said Su.
``Nine or 10 years ago the price was
very low and at that time a lot of
farmers quit pepper and shifted to
fishing.
``But since 1995 when the pepper
price has risen, more and more
people have started growing the
crop. If we have no pepper we
cannot live,'' he added.
(1 US $= 13,888 dong)
Reuters - August 07, 1999.
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