Delta flower farmers concerned by late blossoming

January 6th, 2012

While apricot farmers in Ho Chi Minh City are greatly concerned by their trees’ early blossoming, their counterparts in some Mekong Delta provinces are worried their flowers will not bloom in time to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Even worse is the fact that the ratio of flowers damaged during the planting process due to bad weather is also high.

Nguyen Thoi Nhiem, a resident of the My Phong flower village in My Tho city of Tien Giang Province, said 30 percent of the flowers he is growing are likely to bloom long after the Tet holiday, which falls on January 23rd.

“This is because of the continual rains, hot sunlight, and light force of the northeast wind,” Nhiem explained.

Nhiem is tending a field of 6,000 flowerpots of mums, chrysanthemums and marigolds.

My Phong flower village is expected to supply local and HCMC markets with 700,000 flowerpots of different kinds for the Lunar New Year.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Hoai Phong of Ben Tre said as much as 50 percent of his flowerpots will not flourish on time, with disadvantageous weather remaining the main culprit.

Many traders have thus forced him to sell at low prices, Phong said.

“They charge me only VND50,000 (US$2.3) for a pot of mums.”

In Dong Thap, flower farmers are also worried, since the ratio of late-blossoming flowers in this locality is expected to be as high as 50 percent.

The province will market 2.5 million flowerpots for the Tet holiday this year, local agricultural authorities said.

source form: tuoitrenews