Korean supermarket chain Lotte Mart has bought more than 10 tonnes of pumpkins and five tonnes of watermelons from distressed farmers facing declining prices because of a bumper crop in Dak Lak and Quang Nam provinces.

Lotte Mart plans to increase the purchase volume to 50 tonnes of pumpkins.

To help farmers, the supermarket has paid them more than the price offered by traders.

Big C supermarkets have also bought pumpkins from farmers in Dak Lak District’s Cu Yang Commune.

Last Friday, the supermarket began selling pumpkins bought from farmers in Cu Yang Commune at VND4,900 per kg at its stores in the south.

The supermarket is expected to buy 60 tonnes of pumpkins within a week.

Nguyen Manh Hung, chairman of the Cu Yang People’s Committee, said Cu Yang commune in Eakar District was struggling the most.

Ethnic minority groups account for 42 per cent of the commune’s population. Agriculture is the main source of farmers’ incomes.

The commune has 3,200ha of farmland, with rice, maize, soybean and pumpkin the main crops.

This year, the farmers in the commune grew pumpkin on about 110ha, with productivity estimated at 20 tonnes per hectare.

The price fell to VND800 to VND1,500 per kg, but farmers were still unable to sell their product.

Hung attributed the situation to the shortage of companies specialising in purchasing farm produce in the area.

In Quang Nam Province, watermelon prices fell from VND8,000 per kg earlier this year to VND1,000-VND1,500 per kg, but demand plunged, leaving farmers with huge unsold stocks. — VNS