Thousands of tons of cassava of Nghe An farmers rotted after flood

After 5 days of floodwaters receding, farmers in flooded communes in Thanh Chuong are urgently harvesting cassava. On the roadsides, cassava tubers are piled up in long piles, emitting a strong smell.

Locals said that after the flood receded, they immediately harvested cassava to import to the factory. However, many cassava roots were rotten and had to be discarded.

Piles of rotten cassava piled up on the roadside in Thanh Xuan commune (Thanh Chuong). Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Bui Van Bong in Bach Ngoc hamlet, Thanh Xuan commune, looked at the pile of rotten cassava dumped on the roadside and said with dismay: His family has 10 sao of cassava, of which 5 sao were deeply submerged in flood water. After the flood receded, the family harvested the cassava immediately to prevent it from rotting. However, when the cassava was pulled up, most of the tubers were rotten and turned black.

"The cassava yield here is 2 tons/sao, so this flood caused my family to lose 10 tons of cassava, worth 13 million VND," Mr. Bong lamented.

Rotten cassava is thrown away because the factory does not buy it. Photo: Quang An

On the cassava fields of Thanh Xuan commune, people harvest and transport them immediately, waiting for cars to come and take them to the factory.

People said that they had been taking care of their cassava fields all year, but after just a few days of rain and flooding, they were left with nothing. "We knew the cassava roots were rotten, but we still harvested them, hoping to choose some that were not rotten to sell to the factory, to salvage whatever money we could," an old farmer said sadly.

Cassava is piled up in Thanh Lam commune (Thanh Chuong). Before being sent to the factory, people have to sort out all the rotten cassava. Photo: Quang An

Mr. Bui Xuan Anh - Chairman of Thanh Xuan Commune People's Committee said: For many years, the locality has taken treesraw cassavacassava is the main crop on the fertile land of the commune, so the area of ​​raw cassava this year is 230 hectares. Of which, 50 hectares of cassava were damaged by over 70%; 180 hectares were damaged by 30 - 70% due to flooding.

"Currently, the commune is mobilizing people to urgently harvest cassava for the factory, because the soil is wet, if left for too long, the cassava will rot, and at the same time, we are on guard against heavy rain causing flooding again, which would mean a total loss," said Mr. Bui Xuan Anh.

Farmers in Thanh Xuan commune harvest cassava after flood waters recede. Photo: Xuan Hoang

According to the data of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Chuong district, in the recent historic flood, 1,590 hectares of various crops were damaged from 30% to over 70%. Of which, the cassava area is 501 hectares, in the communes: Thanh Xuan 230 hectares, Thanh Lam 30 hectares, Thanh My 50 hectares, Thanh Phong 30 hectares, Thanh Ngoc 47 hectares, Thanh Son 46 hectares...

Mr. Tran Phi Hung - Head of the District's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: The entire flooded cassava area is ready for harvest. However, the characteristics of cassava are that if it is flooded for 2 days or more, the tubers will rot. Therefore, during the recent rain, Thanh Chuong district was flooded for more than 2 days, so the rate of rotten cassava tubers will be high.

Farmers transport cassava to shore, then select all the rotten tubers, and the rest are sent to the factory. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Thanh Chuong's cassava yield averages over 25 tons/ha, with 501 hectares flooded, yielding over 12,000 tons of cassava. If 50% is lost, Thanh Chuong farmers will lose 6,000 tons of tubers this cassava crop. With the factory's current purchase price of 1.3 million VND/ton, the loss is up to over 6 billion VND.

Thanh Chuong is the most severely damaged locality in Nghe An province due to floods caused by the circulation of storm No. 9.The flood caused two people to be swept away, Mr. Tran Cong The, residing in An Phu hamlet, Thanh An commune and Mr. Nguyen Van Quang, residing in Linh Son commune, Anh Son district, when crossing Bang bridge in Thanh An commune, unfortunately he was swept away by the water and went missing. Mr. Le Dinh Thanh, Vice Chairman of Thanh Chuong district People's Committee, said that in addition to human losses, heavy rain in Thanh Chuong district flooded more than 1,800 houses. The flood caused localized inundation at over 20 overflow points, bridges, culverts, and some roads. The communes have organized the evacuation of 1,316 flooded households, 84 households were affected by landslides, 3 houses were crushed by fallen trees, 6 houses had collapsed walls, and 1,325m of fences collapsed.

The total agricultural damage area was over 1,102 hectares, 5,300 poultry were swept away; 38,000m of traffic routes were eroded, including 2 particularly serious landslides, the section through Ru Nguoc and the route from Thanh Huong to Ngoc Lam, 1 bridge over the traffic route and 9 temporary bridges, 1 spillway, 2 bridges were damaged, 25,000m of canals were eroded. The total damage is estimated at hundreds of billions of VND.

Immediately after the flood receded, the district directed local authorities to focus on helping people overcome the consequences of natural disasters.