The joy of a good harvest
These days, the national highways passing through Phu Yen Province as well as local roads are bustling with lorries fully loaded with sugarcane heading to sugar factories.
This year, sugar factories in the province continue to purchase raw sugarcanes from local farmers at stable prices.
The mountainous district of Song Hinh has greatly expanded its sugarcane cultivation area in recent years. In the 2024-2025 season, the entire district has 7,734 hectares, up 21.7% from the previous season. Among the large sugarcane areas in Song Hinh are Hai Rieng Town and the communes of EaLy, EaBa, Duc Binh Tay, and EaLam.
EaLy Chairman Hoang Dinh Nam said that this season, the commune has the largest sugarcane area in Song Hinh District with 2,050 hectares.
From a severely disadvantaged commune, EaLy has now become a bright spot in the new rural construction programme and was recognised by the provincial government as meeting the criteria for a fifth-tier urban area at the end of 2024.
“In recent years, the commune has encouraged people to switch to more productive crops and livestock. Among these, sugarcane is considered the main crop. From just a few hundred hectares previously, the sugarcane area has now reached over 2,000 hectares this season. Sugarcane has contributed to reducing poverty, and improving people's lives,” said Nam.
In ethnic minority villages, where local workers previously had to find work elsewhere, sugarcane cultivation has now kept them in place. The tasks of cutting, loading, and planting sugarcane are all handled by local workers.
Many households have become relatively well-off through growing sugarcane, with the poverty rate falling sharply each year. By the end of 2024, EaLy Commune's poverty rate was only 1.67%, and the commune expects to reduce it further to below 1% by the end of 2025.
Dinh Ngoc Dan, Chairman of Song Hinh District, said that recently, the district has focused on encouraging local farmers to develop sugarcane growing areas, while working with sugar companies to publicise their policies for sugarcane development, creating consensus and trust for people to participate in sugarcane growing partnerships.
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Sugarcanes have helped improve the living standards of local farmers. |
Partnerships for sustainable development
According to the Phu Yen Department of Agriculture and Environment, the province plans to maintain about 23,000 hectares of sugarcane, mainly in the districts of Son Hoa, Song Hinh, Dong Xuan, Tuy An, Phu Hoa, and Tay Hoa.
However, in recent years, the sugarcane area in the province has risen to around 24,000-26,000 hectares. For the 2024-2025 season, the area has even surged to 29,115 hectares, with rising sugar prices bringing greater profits to farmers.
Son Hoa District Vice Chairman Pham Dinh Phung said that the district is the main sugarcane growing region of Phu Yen Province, with a total area of 16,372 hectares in the 2024-2025 season. The district has identified sugarcane as the main crop and a sustainable means of poverty reduction. People’s lives have improved in many communes with large sugarcane growing areas such as Son Nguyen, Son Phuoc, and Son Ha.
To help sugarcane farmers sell their products, Phu Yen has established a management board to oversee the sector. There are currently three sugar factories in the province with a total processing capacity of 14,000 tonnes per day, ensuring that all raw sugarcanes will be purchased.
For years, Son Hoa District has worked with KCP Company, which owns a factory in the centre of the district, to encourage people to expand their sugarcane growing areas. The district has implemented policies to help sugarcane farmers employ scientific advances in cultivation to increase yields and profits.
To ensure harmonious benefits between the company and sugarcane growers, KCP has invested hundreds of billions of VND in infrastructure for developing the raw material areas over the years and has introduced many policies to cooperate with farmers in sugarcane development.
Currently, the company is providing interest-free loans of over 500 billion VND to sugarcane farmers with a total area of 7,000 hectares. Each year, the company also spends about 60 billion VND to help people prepare land for sugarcane cultivation.
Nguyen Thi Hoa from EaLy Commune shared that her family grew more than 5 hectares of sugarcane in the 2024-2025 season. Thanks to favourable weather, their sugarcane crop has yielded over 70 tonnes per hectare. During harvest, KCP provided machines to load the sugarcane onto lorries, instead of hiring manual labour, thereby reducing costs by 50%. Not only are yields stable, but sugarcane is currently purchased by sugar factories in the area at high prices.
Y Luc from Suoi Bac Commune, Son Hoa District, shared that his family has about 2 hectares of sugarcane. After deducting input costs, his household earned a profit of over 100 million VND.
Phu Yen Vice Chairman Le Tan Ho said “Phu Yen has identified sugarcane as the main crop in mountainous districts. The province always accompanies businesses and farmers to promptly resolve difficulties and obstacles while facing them in a manner that help enterprises grow their business.”
He added that in the future, the province will review all sugarcane growing areas to manage them effectively, ensuring benefits for farmers and businesses.
With the aim to improve productivity, the agricultural sector will also continue to research and test new sugarcane varieties with high yield and quality that are suitable for Phu Yen’s weather and soil conditions.
