Thousands of households in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai have been facing losses due to the massive pepper crop deaths.

At present, nearly 6,500 individuals and households in Chu Puh District have owed a total VND1.4 trillion (USD63.6 million) to banks. 

    

Thousands of households in Gia Lai bankrupt due to pepper plantation

Nearly 900 hectares of pepper in the locality have died, causing huge losses for growers. Many people have had to sell their houses to pay debts.

Mai Lieu in Thuy Phu Village in Ia Blu Commune said he has nine children; however, all of them have been in debt due to poor crop yields of pepper. Two among them had to sell their houses and land, while most of children of the seven others had to leave school to work to support their families.

Nguyen Thi Thuy in Phu Ha Village who specialises in buying farm produce in the locality said that up to 70 households at Ia Blu Commune owe her around a total VND3 billion. However, most of them can’t afford to repay the debts.

According to Phan Van Linh, chairman of Ia Blu Commune, around 400 hectares of pepper in the locality died between 2016 and 2017 due to diseases. In previous years when pepper prices were high, up to 1,466 local households received a combined loan of around VND200 billion (USD9,000) from banks for the propagation of this tree.

Pham Duc Ngoc, Chief office of Chu Puh District, said that local authorities have received many proposals for the extension of debt payment or reduced interest rates.