Develop the planning of raw sugarcane area: supports are not enough

Despite high price of raw sugarcanes, farmers are reluctant to expand sugarcane planting areas due to high price of input materials.

At present, the province is running 2 sugar factories like La Nga Sugar Joint-stock Company and Bien Hoa – Tri An. According to Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, sugarcane covers nearly 9 thousands ha in Dong Nai with average yield of around 60 tons/ha/crop. There are several farmers that are able to increase the yield by 100 tons/ha/crop thanks to proper investment. In order to develop raw sugarcane areas in difficult conditions, these two factories have offered many supports to farmers.

Representative of La Nga Sugar Joint-Stock Company informed that, in October 2007, People’s Committee issued the decision 3549 to approve of the sustainable planning of raw sugarcane areas for the company till 2010 and the vision by 2020. Accordingly, the targets are set till 2010 including the operational capacity 2,300 tons/day; the yield 378,000 tons; invested area 5,400 ha (including Tan Phu 300 ha, Dinh Quan 950 ha, Xuan Loc 1,150 ha, Trang Bom 150 ha, Vinh Cuu 100 ha, the company’s farm 2,750 ha). In the crop 2010 – 2011, raw sugarcane area for La Nga company has reached above 4,800 ha. In order to set sustainable plan and guarantee the yield of raw sugarcanes for the processing factory, the company has brought policies and guidelines into effect to run the project effectively so that it can serve for the sugarcane cultivation and care and encourage intensive cultivation as well as area expansion. Specifically, in 2010, the company invested nearly 70 billion dongs, including 20 million/ha for new sugarcanes and 10 million/ha for replanted sugarcanes. So as to maintain and expand areas, the company encouraged plant conversion and provided sugarcane roots for replanting. For those who converted to plant sugarcane from perennial plants, the company supported 5 mil/ha. For those who grew short-term plants and replanted sugarcanes, the company supported 1 mil/ha and 3 tons of fertilizer. Every year, the company invests into developing infrastructure, repairing and maintaining the road for sugarcane transportation with the annual capital of more than 1.5 billion dongs. Besides financial investment and direct supports, La Nga Sugar Company has conducted researches, field studies and applied manufacturing and technical processes as well as mechanization to reduce production expense and enhance competitive capability for sugarcane compared with others.

In addition to support policies, factories also factories need to invest into traffic and irrigation system for sugarcane development.

Like La Nga Sugar Company, Bien Hoa – Tri An Joint-Stock Company has also provided many supports to sugarcane growers in the province. For basic loans, the company supported 20 million dongs/ha for new sugarcane and 14 million dongs/ha for caring sugarcanes. In respect of loans for intensive cultivation, the company supported more 2 million/ha for watering sugarcanes during dry season and 2 million/ha for extracting sugarcane leaves. Irreversible financial supports were offered to new sugarcane with 4 million dongs/ha (region 1) and 3 million dongs/ha (region 2) in the form of fertilizer, sugarcane seed and plough service, etc. These supports required farmers to commit to sign the sale contract with the company in 4 consecutive crops. In order to converse yearly plants into sugarcane, the factory supported 1 million dongs/ha. For those who grew perennial plants, they were offered with the support of 3 million dongs/ha (region 1) and 2 million dongs/ha (region 2). According to the plan of raw sugarcane area development, Bien Hoa – Tri An sugar factory needs more than 5 thousand ha by 2015. But till now, the factory only maintains nearly 4,000 ha, including approximately 3,000 ha in Dong Nai. At present, the company has difficulty developing the size of planting areas. In order to meet the demand for raw material, the company expands its potential areas to Binh Thuan, Ba Ria Vung Tau and Binh Duong.

Though sugar companies give many timely supports to sugarcane farmers to maintain and stabilize production areas, sugarcanes in many regions are grown fewer than others. The reason is that growing cost is higher than the revenue that they can earn. Particularly in Dinh Quan, many farmers have ignored sugarcanes and they change to grow mango as it has high economic effectiveness. If sugarcanes are grown with new seed and special care and the yield is 100 tons/ha, income after other expenses for farmers is around 50 – 55 million dongs/ha/crop. Meanwhile, in recent years, the sugarcane yield in the province gains only 30 tons/ha and after deducting all investment expenses, farmers can earn 30 million dongs/ha. In fact, mangos of Dinh Quan can earn more than 30 million dongs/ha but farmers don’t need to waste much effort. Therefore, local authority is not able to persuade them to grow sugarcane.

Nowadays, mechanization for sugarcane growing is rather considerable

In order to find solution to set master plan in the province, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has recently organized a workshop with other local authorities and sugar enterprises. Mr. Phan Minh Bau, Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural development, shared that average income per one unit of land is not too high compared with other plants such as corn, mango, etc. In fact, sugarcane is going on the rough road due to weather and planting conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to establish procurement rules to determine the role of 4 types of professional people and divide raw sugarcane areas among factories.

Explicitly, besides the company’s support policies, the cooperation among sugar factories and farmers keeps the key importance to develop sustainable areas. Moreover, farmers should be aware of their role and responsibility in this cooperation so that they don’t quit growing their current plant and change to other high-income plants.

 Reported by Thanh Canh, Translated by Minh Minh