Severe heat - Farmers face difficulties

(Baonghean) -Prolonged heat has caused severe damage to crops and livestock in many localities in the province. It is forecasted that this year there will be many prolonged heat waves, and localities need to take proactive measures to cope. In the summer-autumn crop structure, it is necessary to calculate the amount of water stored in lakes and dams to structure the crop season appropriately. Areas at high risk of drought should be converted to grow drought-tolerant crops, and water-saving measures should be strengthened.

Dien Chau: Melons wilt, fish die due to drought

Present at the watermelon field in Hamlet 5, Dien Phong Commune, Dien Chau, we witnessed the damage caused by the drought. Those were patches of withered watermelons lying exposed to the scorching sun. Ms. Tran Thi Phuong was covering the watermelons with plastic and said: My family had 2 sao of watermelons but they all died, only 0.5 sao left, while the cost was quite expensive. According to Ms. Phuong, the prolonged drought caused the underground water to dry up, people simultaneously brought electricity to the fields, every house pumped water while the electricity system could not meet the demand, the water from the pump dripped and could not irrigate the watermelons. Next door, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa's watermelon field was in the same situation, many melon bushes were withered and had to be pulled out, leaving only white sand in the field. Ms. Hoa shared: Digging wells and using pumps were also not possible because the electricity was too weak. To save the 2.5 sao of melons, the only way was to "dredge" water from the village ponds and put it in barrels, transporting it by buffalo cart to the melon fields for drip irrigation. The amount of irrigation water was not enough, the weather was too hot, the melon fields gradually died, the plants that survived were stunted and could not grow.

Dien Van people (Dien Chau) use bamboo leaves to hang in the pond to create shade for fish to take refuge.

Not only crops are facing difficulties due to drought, but fish farming areas are also suffering from drought. In Dien Van commune - Dien Chau, where there is a large fish farming area, there has been a situation of fish dying due to the heat, causing significant damage to fish farmers. Mr. Nguyen Van Suu - Chairman of Van Thanh Aquaculture Cooperative said: My family has over 5,500 m2 of ponds, the fish are about to be sold, each weighing from 1-1.2 kg due to the heat, in the past month about 320 kg have died... In Dien Van, there are quite a few households raising sea bass that have died, such as Mr. Hoang Van Thuy, Luu Van Vien, Hoang Linh... It is known that sea bass breeds are quite expensive, from 12,000-15,000 VND/fish, each household releases 800-1000 fish, if successful, each year they will make a profit of 35-40 million VND.

Mr. Nguyen Van Suu added: Dien Van has nearly 15 hectares of freshwater and brackish water fish farming, up to this point the whole commune has lost about 2 tons of fish of all kinds, the cause is the prolonged heat. The current difficulty is that because it is located at the end of the water source, many ponds have dried up, with brackish water ponds having to wait for the tide, the water source is not guaranteed, which also contributes to the increase in fish mortality rate during the hot season.

Mr. Son: Spring-summer corn at risk of total loss

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hong in hamlet 1, Tam Son commune - Anh Son complained: "My family planted 7 sao of corn, but up to now, due to the dry weather, 4 sao of corn planted near Khe Ran (Bong Khe - Con Cuong) have withered, and it is unlikely that we can harvest it. If the heat and drought continue, the corn will die on a large scale." Tam Son commune is one of the localities with a lot of experience in growing corn on a large area and always has high productivity. Currently, the commune has an area of ​​nearly 200 hectares of corn and a structure of growing 3 crops/year. This spring crop, the commune has grown more than 160 hectares with varieties such as 919, DK 6919... these are high-yielding varieties, very suitable for the soil quality in Tam Son.

However, in the spring crop, there was a prolonged drought. It is known that the water source for corn in Tam Son depends on the rain and from the beginning of 2014 until now, there have only been a few small rains that have not penetrated the soil. In addition, the current weather is very complicated, with prolonged heat, so nearly 50% of the corn area in Tam Son has withered, greatly affecting productivity. In 2013, over 160 hectares of spring corn in Tam Son commune achieved a yield of 1,120 tons (average spring corn yield of 7 tons/ha). Currently, on sandy and barren land in Tam Son, corn has withered due to drought and some corn areas on alluvial land are also being affected by drought. According to Tam Son commune officials: The drought is widespread, so it is very difficult to save corn. People want to pump water from the river to irrigate corn, but it is difficult to get electricity and there is a lack of large capacity water pumps... If the drought continues, the spring corn crop in Tam Son will have a major crop failure.

Corn plants withered due to prolonged drought. Photo: PVM

In the 2014 spring corn crop, Anh Son district sowed 2,636 ha/2,000 ha of the plan (exceeding 30%) and corn was sown in 2 crops. Crop 1 was sown before March 10 on an area of ​​800 ha, crop 2 was sown from March 10 to 20 on an area of ​​1,836 ha. Spring corn in Anh Son was deployed late due to the influence of the previous winter corn crop. Therefore, although the district and farmers focused on investing, the flagging and silking period encountered prolonged intense heat, combined with early southwest winds, causing corn areas in the hilly areas, home gardens and sandy land to dry out. Mr. Nguyen Cong The - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Anh Son district said: "Currently, there are more than 600 hectares of corn in the area that are in the flowering and silking stage that have been severely damaged. The plants are wilted due to drought and cannot be pollinated, the grain/ear ratio is low and there is a possibility that there will be no harvest.

If the weather continues to be hot and dry combined with hot southwest winds, the remaining corn area of ​​over 2,000 hectares in the wilting and milky stage will have a yield reduction of 30-70%. To help people overcome difficulties and continue production in difficult conditions due to complicated weather conditions, Anh Son district has a plan to rescue corn production. Accordingly, on the corn area that has not been harvested by June 30 and is unlikely to yield a good yield, we will proactively cooperate to sell fresh corn products from now until June 20 to free up land in time to sow summer-autumn corn before June 30. For corn that has been exposed to drought on land, home gardens, and sandy soil that has dried up and cannot recover, and late-flowering areas (about 600 hectares), it is necessary to quickly free up land early to proactively sow green beans or summer-autumn corn.

Anh Son is a locality with a large corn growing area, however, a current problem with this crop is that the irrigation water source mainly depends on rainwater, so production faces many difficulties. In order for Anh Son people to feel secure in investing in corn development, it is necessary to plan and invest appropriately to develop the irrigation system, only then will the situation of corn wilting and dying due to drought not occur.

Van Truong - Hoang Vinh