VietNamNet Bridge – Most of the people in the Vo Cuong ward of Bac Ninh province have given up farming and shifted to trade Chinese farm produce which can bring higher profits to them.

The Hoa Dinh Market in Vo Cuong ward has always been bustling. Hundreds of tons of Chinese farm produce are brought here and then carried away every night.

Local people once earned their living on growing vegetables. However, the Nhoi famous vegetable village has no longer existed, because the people prefer trading Chinese produce.

Lan, the owner of a tea shop on Nguyen Van Cu street, said the traditional cultivation cannot support local people, therefore, they stopped farming 10 years ago and began collecting farm produce for sale.

“Trading Chinese produce can bring the profit which is hundreds of times higher than growing vegetables at their gardens,” Lan said.

“Merchants have been flocking there to get produce for reselling. They are from Hai Duong, Hung Yen and Hanoi in the north. Some of them are from Quang Ngai in the central region,” Lan said. As the business enjoys prosperity, local people are getting rich every day.

Nguyen Van Bach, Deputy Chair of the Vo Cuong Ward people’s committee, confirmed that local people mostly trade dry farm produce imported from China, including garlic, onion, potatoes, and some kinds of vegetables.

There are about 20 big households there which trade Chinese farm produce in large scale, while the local authorities still cannot count the small merchants.

Bach said that the rapid urbanization has led to the sharp decrease in the agriculture land area. There is now only 70 hectares of agriculture land. Meanwhile, local farmers had to compete fiercely with the neighboring vegetable growing areas. Therefore, they have given up farming to trade Chinese farm produce.

A big household can earn VND2-3 billion a year, while a small household can get several hundreds of millions of dong, according to Bach. “Every household has 2-3 trucks each of which can carry tens of tons of goods,” he said.

The Hoa Dinh Market gets most bustling at night, from 9 pm to the next morning.

The wholesale prices of Chinese farm produce are surprisingly low. A kilo of dried onion is sold at VND6,000, a kilo of garlic VND5,000. Especially, potatoes, which look just like the Vietnamese potatoes grown in Da Lat City, are priced at VND8,500 per kilo. The potatoes have been selling very well, because they can be mistaken with Vietnamese produce.

Cuc, a goods owner, said she sells 100 tons of potatoes a day. The potatoes can be divided into three kinds – big bulbs, small bulbs and partially rotten bulbs, which would be sold to street rice shops.

“You should choose big bulbs of potatoes and small bulbs of garlic and onion,” Cuc said.

“Buyers would prefer big bulbs of potatoes, while small bulbs of garlic and onion look just like Vietnamese produce,” she explained.

Cuc distributes hundreds of tons of farm produce every day, but she and her family members do not use the produce.

“I have heard that Chinese produce are toxic, therefore, we don’t eat them,” Thuong, a hired worker said.

Lan, the tea shop owner, also said she never buys anything from the traders, even one hundred grams of garlic.

Bao Han