Dien Chau: Winter peanut yield decreased

(Baonghean)- Peanut fields ready for harvest in Dien Thinh commune - a concentrated peanut growing area of ​​Dien Chau district - are covered in a withered black color. It's harvest time, but farmers are not excited because the peanut yield is lower than in previous years...

Ms. Hoang Thi Hoa (Hamlet 3, Dien Thinh) was frustrated: “Every year, on this field, we mainly grow vegetables. This year, seeing people in the commune growing winter peanuts, my family planted 10 meters of lotus peanuts as seeds for the spring crop. The peanuts had just been planted for a while when it rained, and when the peanuts were flowering, sprouting shoots, and forming tubers, we had to endure prolonged heavy rain. The peanut plants wilted, the leaves turned black. We harvested more than 10 meters of peanuts but only got 4 bags of fresh peanuts, and the peanuts were not as firm and beautiful as usual. We planned to plant this amount of winter peanuts to avoid buying seeds for the spring crop, but in this situation, our family has to buy more...”.

This year, the entire Dien Thinh commune sowed 51.7 hectares of winter peanuts, an increase of 20 hectares compared to last year. Mr. Cao Hieu, Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Thinh commune, said: "The entire winter crop area is facing difficulties due to heavy rain. The drainage system in Dien Thinh basically meets the requirements, but when the tide rises, the heavy rain cannot drain in time, many areas of winter peanuts are flooded for 2-3 days, causing the roots to become waterlogged, affecting the development of the tubers. According to the commune's statistics, after the rains, Dien Thinh has lost 6.2 hectares of winter peanuts in low-lying areas, 45 hectares lost about 50%. Therefore, if the normal winter peanut yield in Dien Thinh reaches 120 kg/sao, this winter crop is estimated to only reach over 70 kg/sao".

Peanut crop in Dien Chau failed due to poor bean and root production.

In Dien Hoang, a locality with a large area of ​​​​winter peanuts in Dien Chau district with over 100 hectares, the situation this winter crop is not much better. Mr. Ho Kim Cuc - Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune said: "Sown from the end of August, early September, the peanuts were sown and had not yet sprouted when it rained, the sprouts were irreparably rotten, the whole commune suffered damage of over 30 hectares, so the winter peanut area of ​​​​Dien Hoang is only 70 hectares. Not only has the area decreased, but due to too much rain during the growth and development period, the winter peanut yield of the commune this year is only about 75 - 80 kg/sao, while in previous years the average yield is always from 120 - 130 kg/sao. Therefore, if Dien Hoang is normally a point of supplying spring peanut seeds to many localities in the province, this year, we will likely have to buy more peanut seeds.

As a key locality of the province in growing peanuts, for many years now, this has been one of the main crops in the winter crop in Dien Chau, both for seeds for the spring crop and for supply to other localities in and outside the province. Mr. Le Xuan Vinh, Head of the District Agriculture Department, said: This winter crop, Dien Chau district has planted over 400 hectares of peanuts/the district's plan is 600 hectares. The peanut area is concentrated in the communes of Dien Hoang, Dien Hung, Dien Ky, Dien Thinh... The main peanut varieties are L14, L20, hybrid lotus, LX6... Determining that the winter crop is a production crop that always faces weather risks, from the beginning of the crop, the district has focused on directing localities to strictly follow the crop schedule, and at the same time covered almost 100% of the area with plastic.

However, this winter crop, the rainfall is too much, both heavy and prolonged in many periods, affecting productivity. It is expected that within a week, Dien Chau will finish harvesting winter peanuts to prepare for spring crop production. Depending on each land, peanut productivity can fluctuate differently. In areas with higher land such as Dien Hung, winter peanut productivity can reach over 1 quintal/sao, but in low-lying areas, people only harvest about 40-50 kg/sao, even many low-lying areas in Dien Tan, Dien Thinh... have lost everything. According to estimates, winter peanut productivity in Dien Chau district this year will decrease by about 30% compared to previous years, averaging about 70-80 kg/sao, meaning 14-16 quintals/ha.

Article and photos:Huong Thanh