A Luoi District is home to 8.20 hectares of Bo Chinh ginseng, but the majority died due to a fungal infection.
Bo Chinh ginseng growers in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue are facing losses
Pham Minh Tu, a farmer in Quang Nham Commune, said that last year, his family piloted the Bo Chinh Ginseng plantation. The trees developed very well. So, early this year, he increased the ginseng area to nearly 1,000 square metres. But in June, while in bloom, many of the ginseng trees showed symptoms of wilting, leaf drop, and flower drop, followed by a gradual decay from their leaves down to the roots.
The yield collapse has caused his family to lose around tens of millions of VND.
Famers in A Luoi have collaborated with SBC Hoang Gia Company Ltd. Co. to grow Bo Chinh ginseng trees.
According to Nguyen Hai Teo, director of Quang Nham Co-operative, local authorities sent the affected ginseng samples to the Plant Protection Institute for testing. The institute concluded that the massive deaths were due to a kind of fungus named Fusarium.
The recent prolonged rainy weather is the main reason for the disease.