Burnt tomatoes leave farmers in key vegetable area of Nghe An empty-handed
(Baonghean.vn) - Prolonged hot weather, while irrigation water sources are depleted, has caused many tomato fields in Quynh Luu district (Nghe An) to dry out and burn; estimated damage is more than 500 million VND.
Looking at a acre of tomatoes that were in the harvest period, dry and burnt, with ripe red fruits curled up and yellow stems, Mr. Ho Van Hiep in Hamlet 8, Quynh Minh Commune said that this crop lost about 10 - 12 million VND. At this time last year, the tomato garden was green and lush, with fruit yielding a family income of over 20 million VND, but at this time, about half of the tomato area was dry and burnt despite the family watering it every day.
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| Tomatoes dried up, Quynh Luu farmers lost hundreds of millions of dong. Photo: Thanh Yen |
This is a late tomato crop, so the weather is hot and dry for a long time. Before that, the family had harvested half of the fruit, the remaining 1.5 tons of fruit were burned before being harvested.
The entire Quynh Minh commune grows about 25 hectares of tomatoes, of which 6 hectares of late summer tomatoes are concentrated in hamlets 1 and 8. According to the people, if 1 sao of tomatoes is productive, it will yield 2.2 - 2.5 tons of fruit. Thus, with 6 hectares of late tomatoes, if harvested, the yield will be 250 tons. However, due to the impact of the weather, half of the late tomato area was burned before it could be harvested, and the dried fruit fell all over the field.
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| Even though the tomatoes are watered every day, the extreme heat still kills the tomatoes. Photo: Thanh Yen |
Mr. Ho Mau Tuan - Vice Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Minh commune said that out of 6 hectares of late-planted tomatoes, about 3 hectares were damaged due to hot weather. On average, 1 sao of tomatoes, farmers lost about 10 - 12 million VND; so the whole commune lost over 500 million VND this crop. Currently, the locality is compiling a list of tomato growers affected by the weather to submit to higher authorities for support plans.
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| Not only tomatoes, eggplants in Quynh Luu were also damaged. Photo: Thanh Yen |
Not only in Quynh Minh commune, many tomato and eggplant areas in Quynh Luong, Quynh Bang, Quynh Van communes... were also burned and dried.
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| Graphics: Lam Tung |
