At Van Thanh Flower Village in Ward 8, people are busy preparing for the year's biggest season around the Tet Lunar New Year Festival.
A farmer, Nguyen Hung Vy, said that he has just planted lilies for the Tet festival but has had to reduce the area by 30 percent due to low demand.
"I've received fewer orders for Tet flowers this year," Vy explained. "Customers said that people seemed to cut spending on flowers and bonsai to save money due to financial difficulties."
Another farmer, Vu Ngoc Thanh, has also planted daisies on his 1,100-square-metre farm.
"These daisies are due to be harvested for Tet," Thanh said, adding that he decided to cut the flower growing area by 20 percent as his customers had placed smaller orders compared to previous years.
"I’ll focus on the quality of the flowers and hope that we get good prices during Tet," the farmer said.
Deputy director of the Lam Dong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nguyen Van Chau, said that the global economic downturn has badly affected flower and bonsai growers in Dalat City this year, especially in the run-up to Tet.
"Local farmers have been well aware of the situation and have adjusted their production to better adapt to the situation, such as reducing growing areas and focusing on new kinds or those that can last longer," the official said. "I hope that they can overcome this period and maintain the good reputation for Dalat flowers.
According to the chairman of Dalat Flower Association, Phan Thanh Sang, local farmers are going to release some three million orchids for sale for Tet.
"Thanks to favourable soil and weather, Dalat has always been known for growing the most beautiful orchids which live long and are easy to take care of," Sang said. "We have varied sizes to suit customers who can spend from just between VND160,000-200,000 for a small pot or hundreds of millions for larger ones."
