The watermelons, grown on nearly 25 hectares of leased land in Ia Mo Commune in Gia Lai Province, were expected to yield around 1,250 tons and sell for approximately VND8.5 billion (US$336,000) under a handwritten agreement signed in December 2025.
But a disagreement over actual crop yield versus what the growers had promised blew up the deal, and by the time the fruit was ready for harvest in January, neither side would budge.
On Feb. 25, the fields were strewn with rotting and shriveled melons, each weighing 4-6 kg, with local cattle grazing on the remains.
The dispute centers on a gap between expectation and reality.
Lam Van Sau, who led the farming group, said he and his relatives leased the land in November 2025 at VND21 million per hectare to grow watermelons for the lucrative Tet market.
On Dec. 13, a group of traders led by Tran Thi Nhung agreed to buy the entire crop at a fixed rate of VND17 million per saoa Vietnamese land unit equal to 500 sq.m, for a total of roughly VND8.5 billion. Nhung’s group transferred a deposit of VND7.5 billion ($296,000).
The agreement hinged on an expected yield of 2.5 tons per sao. But about a month later, the traders said the actual yield was only around 500 kg per saoone-fifth of what had been promised, and asked to switch from the lump-sum deal to paying by weight at VND5,000 per kg.
Sau refused. “We invested about VND4 billion ($158,000) in land rental, seeds and over three months of care,” he said. “We want to proceed according to the signed agreement.”
Nhung countered that the yield commitment was made when the watermelons had only begun to bud, making it impossible to guarantee output. “We contacted them multiple times to negotiate, but they refused to cooperate,” she said.
The standoff dragged past the Tet holiday, which runs from Feb. 14 to 22, the peak season for watermelon sales in Vietnam when demand and prices surge, leaving the entire crop to spoil.
Local authorities in Ia Mo Commune said they attempted to mediate multiple times starting Jan. 28, but the buyers failed to appear. Given the size of the financial dispute and the contractual issues involved, officials have advised both parties to take the matter to court, said Nguyen Tuan Anh, the commune’s vice chairman.
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