Preparing to plant new industrial crops in the fall

(Baonghean.vn) - In recent times, drought has damaged many areas of industrial tea, sugarcane, and rubber crops in our province. Currently, localities are focusing on preparing for the new autumn crop, both expanding the area and restoring the rubber and tea hills that have been "erased" due to drought.

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development officials inspect tea damage in Long Son commune (Anh Son district)

There used to be 1 hectare of tea, of which 0.5 hectare was for commercial use and 0.5 hectare was newly planted in 2014, but the severe drought last summer caused Mr. Pham Van Hong's family in Kim Long tea enterprise - Long Son commune, - Anh Son district to lose half of their commercial tea area; the remaining 0.5 hectare of tea planted last year died completely. Currently, his whole family is focusing on uprooting the dead tea plants, preparing the soil and fertilizing to prepare to replant the damaged summer area.

Mr. Pham Van Hong - Kim Long tea enterprise - Long Son commune - Anh Son district takes care of the remaining tea area.

Not far from Hong's family's tea garden is Nguyen Van Hiep's tea hill - Team 12/9. On the high hill, green tea roots are interspersed with yellowed tea roots. In the cool weather, Hiep and his wife are taking care of the tea plants that have not died yet, while remaking the beds and adding manure to the newly planted tea area affected by the drought. His family has 1.35 hectares of tea, of which 0.8 hectares are commercial tea and more than half a hectare was planted last year. The drought caused 0.3 hectares of commercial tea and half of the newly planted tea area to die. However, this time he did not replant the commercial tea area because if he replanted, he would have to completely remove it while investment and fertilizer were still very difficult.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hiep and his wife - Team 12/9 take care of the newly planted tea area in 2014

Having invested in building a tea nursery for 2 years now, Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Huong - an officer of the Planning Department - Anh Son Tea Enterprise said: With 700,000 seedlings, it is expected that about 500,000 trees will meet the standards for new planting, of which all are LDP2 tea varieties with thick leaves, which have the best drought resistance at present.

Taking care of tea seedlings at the nursery of Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Huong - Planning Department officer - Anh Son Tea Enterprise

Picking "taking advantage" of tea in Long Son (Anh Son)

Currently, the district is directing communes and units to accurately count the dead tea area to prepare for replanting and supplementary planting, and instructing people to take care of the tea right after the rain so that the tea business can recover quickly, especially for areas with completely burnt foliage. Directing the preparation of land for tea planting to ensure technical standards and on schedule before September 15, 2015; balancing varieties to proactively plant early when weather conditions are favorable, ensuring that each planting is done properly.

Although not as severely damaged as tea trees, the severe drought has also affected some rubber tree areas in our province. Mr. Pham Xuan Chien - Team leader of Team 1 - Youth Volunteer Farm 2 under Nghe An Rubber Development Investment Corporation said: Up to now, the rubber tree area of ​​the team is 270 hectares, however, due to the drought, about 9,000 rubber trees newly planted in 2015 and 2016 have died. Currently, workers are focusing on digging holes and fertilizing to carry out new planting according to the target, and will replant this area in August. Unlike tea, there is no difficulty in seed sources, in the area of ​​Youth Volunteer Farm 2 of the Rubber Company, there are currently two nurseries, meeting the production needs of the unit.

Irrigation system at the nursery of Nghe An Rubber Company

Taking care of rubber seedlings at the nursery of Nghe An Rubber Company

In the province's plan, in 2015 the whole province will plant 2,000 hectares of new rubber trees, mainly in Que Phong, Thanh Chuong, Anh Son districts; 1,000 hectares of industrial tea in Thanh Chuong, Anh Son, Con Cuong, Ky Son districts (Tuyet Shan tea 120 hectares). However, due to drought, many areas have been added beyond the plan.

Phu Huong