Upland rice dies, many Khmu villages worry about hunger
(Baonghean.vn) – “Last year, rats destroyed the crops, this year the rice died because of drought. My family probably has nothing left to eat,” that is the lament of many Khmu people in Ky Son about the recent drought that caused massive rice deaths.
According to many people in Bao Nam and Bao Thang communes (Ky Son), the recent widespread drought has caused a large part of the rice fields to die. With 100% of the Kho Mu ethnic group, people living in these areas grow rice in mountainous areas, dry climate, long-term lack of rain so the rice cannot grow. Most of the rice planted by households in the first crop died.
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| Hundreds of hectares of upland rice in Bao Nam and Bao Thang communes (Ky Son) died due to the heat. The remaining areas developed poorly and were unlikely to be very productive. |
In Bao Nam commune, there are 645 households growing upland rice on an area of 665 hectares. Their livelihood mainly depends on this rice. During the recent heat wave, up to 360 hectares of rice died, the rest hardly grew or grew very poorly. Currently, 79.8% of households in this area are poor, so people are very worried. Hunger is approaching.
Ms. Lo Me Xan in Nam Tien 2 village (Bao Nam) said that this year, her family sowed 75 kg of rice seeds in 2 fields. However, when the rice reached the weeding stage, the rice in the higher fields died, and half of the rice in the valley died. "Last year, rats ate everything, but luckily we replanted and had enough to eat until today. But now, if everything dies, what will we eat? Our family of 6 will probably go hungry," Ms. Xan confided.
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| Over 50% of the rice area is withered. |
Sharing the same situation as her, hundreds of households in Hin Pen, Luu Tan, Thao Di villages… are also in a similar situation. Mr. Lo Po Huong’s household (Nam Tien 2) planted 60 kg of rice seeds and almost all of them died. Now he can only mobilize his wife and children to go to the fields to dig up cassava roots to store for the coming time.
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| The rest hope for rain to recover. |
In Bao Thang commune, the area of dead rice has not been specifically counted by the commune authorities. However, according to the people's reflection, the damage caused by the heat is very large. Mr. Moong Van Nghe in Tha Lang village said that this year his family sowed nearly 30 kg of rice seeds. However, the first batch almost all died, the next batch he sowed 25 kg but half of it also died. Most of the rice area of the people in Tha Lang village is also in a similar situation. At present, everyone is going to the forest to get bo fruit and bamboo shoots to sell to traders to avoid immediate hunger.
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| Most of them were withered. |
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| The rice dried up, causing thousands of households to worry about hunger. |
On August 12, Mr. Phan Van Manh - Chairman of Bao Nam Commune People's Committee informed: "Yesterday there was a heavy rain, some areas of dead rice are turning green again. However, we will wait to see how the weather develops in the future before making a new policy. If the remaining rice does not die, people will still have hunger, but not as severe as last year."
Mr. Pham Van Hoa - Vice Chairman of Bao Thang Commune said: "The commune has 417 households growing upland rice, each household sows an average of 50 kg of rice seeds on an area of nearly 350 hectares. In the near future, the Commune People's Committee will conduct an inspection to have a specific plan."
Although there was a situation of upland rice dying due to drought, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tri - Head of the Department of Agriculture of Ky Son district denied the information and said: "In the highlands, there was no heavy rain but there was fog so the rice did not die. Recently, there was only a leaf-rolling worm epidemic, we have checked and finished extinguishing the epidemic" ???. |
Dao Tho
