GIA LAI – Farmers are in the coffee picking season, but the disease makes it difficult for many gardeners to find workers.
The Central Highlands currently has more than 600,000 hectares of coffee, of which Gia Lai has nearly 100,000 hectares, ranking third in the region. As one of the key crops of Gia Lai province, nearly 88,000 hectares of coffee are concentrated in Chu Prong, Ia Grai, Dak Doa, Mang Yang, and Chu Se districts… with an output of 254,440 tons per year.
This year due to the epidemic, the workers from Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh … did not go to Gia Lai as crowded as every year. Coffee pickers are mainly local workers.
Early in the morning at the end of November, 8 coffee pickers brought food and water to Mr. Pham Xuan Hoa’s coffee garden, in Ia Sao commune, Ia Grai district to continue their work. Each row of two people, pull two tarps around the base so that when picking the coffee, it does not spill out.
“I contacted everywhere to hire 8 workers in Krong Pa district,” said Mr. Hoa, and said that before entering the garden to pick, they must have a certificate of vaccination against Covid-19, and must register and declare local medical journal.
Half a month ago, Ms. Nay Rin Da, 25 years old, from Krong Pa district, and her husband finished working on the family’s noodle field. Both of them planned to ride motorbikes more than 150 km to the Ia Grai district to pick coffee, but because at that time the epidemic situation in Gia Lai was complicated, while the gardeners required workers to have the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
After vaccination, Ms. Da and her husband invited 6 more people near the house to rent a car to pick coffee for Mr. Hoa’s garden. This is their 4th day of work.
Every day, she and her husband pick 600-700 kg, for every 100 kg, the garden owner pays 100,000 VND. “A few crops ago, they came here to pick coffee, but this year they have many difficulties in terms of vehicles, medical declarations …”, Ms. Da said and said, they decided to work until Christmas and then return home.
The tree has a lot of fruit, it takes two people 5-10 minutes to pick. After picking one tree, they continued to drag the canvas containing the coffee beans to the next tree.
At the end of a row, workers pick up leaves and trash, then put them in bags. Each bag is about 40 kg.
Now, Ó (left), 27 years old, was still struggling to pick up coffee for the first time. The canvas was not carefully spread, so the coffee beans were scattered on the ground, taking time to pick up. “Now, my two brothers pick the fastest in the group, 8 quintals a day”, Ó boasted.
Mr. Hoa’s garden is 2.5 hectares wide, with more than 2,500 coffee trees planted since 1995. Mr. Hoa estimates that this year the whole garden will reach 10 tons of seeds, selling for 40,000 VND per kilogram, the family will collect about 400 million VND. Excluding the cost of care, he made a profit of 200 million dongs.
It is expected that it will take about a week for Mr. Hoa’s coffee garden to be harvested. “In the previous crop, I hired 30 workers and finished the picking in only 2 days. The prolonged harvesting caused the fruit to ripen and lose kilograms,” said Mr. Hoa.
The labor group’s lunch consisted of rice and papaya soup. They say they try to save money for their children and shopping for Tet.
After eating, the group took a break for 15-20 minutes right under the coffee tree. In the evening, they eat and stay for free in the garden’s huts.
Ms. Nay Rin Da recorded the coffee yield of the group and the costs of meals during the time of employment.
Mr. Pham Xuan Hoa, the owner of the garden, buys rice, spices, and drinking water for the workers. These costs after harvesting will be deducted from wages.
After weighing, the coffee is loaded onto agricultural trucks and transported to the drying site.
For households with a large area and output, after harvesting, the garden owner will sell them fresh or send them to the purchasing establishments to dry according to the ratio (every 4.7 kg of fresh will get a kg of the kernel).
Ms. Pham Thi Thu Hang, Deputy Head of Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Ia Grai district, said that due to the impact of the epidemic, coffee harvesting workers in the area this year lacked nearly 5,000 people. “The number of workers from the southern provinces mainly serves their gardens,” said Ms. Hang.
According to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, by mid-November, there were 44,160 workers returning from the provinces, of which freelance workers (without labor contracts) accounted for about 40%.
To support workers returning from the provinces, the Department is coordinating with localities to review and keep a list of businesses, cooperatives and households that have needs for laborers to harvest agriculture. properties in the province to send to the Employment Service Center for introduction and settlement. Follow (vnexpress)