According to the farmers, radish prices started dropping during the Tet Holiday when one kilo was sold for VND6,000 (26 US cents) to VND8,000.
Many farmers in Dong Cao Village have to pull out the radishes in order to plant other vegetables. The radishes have been abandoned on the roadside or thrown away into the Red River. Traders have also suffered more than VND100m (USD4,400) in losses.
"We reserved a whole radish field so now we have to spend VND1m (USD44) to VND1.5m to hire someone to harvest and then throw away the radishes to return the land to the owner," Tuyet, a trader in Hanoi said.
Retail markets and processing facilities in Hanoi can't cope with the huge supply of radishes from Me Linh District during harvest season along with many fruits and vegetables from other provinces and cities. As of now at least 20 tonnes of radish have been thrown away while the cost to grow one hectare of radish is VND3.5m (USD153).
Dinh Van Khanh, a farmer in Trang Viet Village, said the bigger the radishes were, the more difficult sale they became. He said, "The consumers don't want to pay because they doubt the quality of the radishes. They said such huge radishes aren’t natural and they must have been soaked with chemicals from China."
Radish dumped by the river
Dinh Van Khanh, a farmer in Trang Viet Village, said the bigger the radishes were, the more difficult sale they became. He said, "The consumers don't want to pay because they doubt the quality of the radishes. They said such huge radishes aren’t natural and they must have been soaked with chemicals from China."
