Nghe An: Hot weather, green vegetables in short supply, greenhouse vegetables expensive

Due to drought and lack of irrigation water, many vegetable growing areas in Nghi Loc are leaving their areas fallow. Others have switched to growing watermelons. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The prolonged heat and lack of irrigation water have caused drought in Nghe An's vegetable growing areas, with yellow leaves and burnt leaves. Many vegetables that cannot withstand the heat have dried up in the fields. In many areas, only Malabar spinach, water spinach, amaranth, Malabar spinach and vegetables such as bitter melon, squash, and pumpkin are still available for harvest, but not much.

In Nghi Long (Nghi Loc), if the winter season has favorable weather, the total vegetable area of ​​the commune can reach hundreds of hectares, but this season, due to the prolonged heat, most of the vegetable growing area has switched to growing melons such as cucumbers, cantaloupes, watermelons, etc. Currently, the specialized vegetable growing hamlets such as hamlets 13, hamlets 5 and 6 in the fields are all "empty of vegetables".

Due to severe drought, the area of ​​vegetables grown using traditional methods in Quynh Luu burned down, not enough supply for the market. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In Quynh Luu district, due to the prolonged heat wave in recent times, many areas of tomatoes, vegetables, and even spring onions - the most drought-resistant plants in this "vegetable granary" - have dried up. Mr. Ho Dien Vy, Director of Quynh Minh Agricultural Cooperative, said: "It is difficult to care for, vegetables grow poorly, and irrigation costs have increased, so the price of vegetables has increased (about 30% higher than before), but still not enough to supply the market."

While vegetables in the fields are dying due to drought, greenhouses in Nghi Lien (Vinh City) and Nam Anh (Nam Dan) are still regularly supplying a certain amount of vegetables to the market. Although it is the peak of the heat, dozens of farming households in Nghi Lien are still growing vegetables and supplying hundreds of kilograms of vegetables to the market every day.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quang - Chairman of Nghi Lien Commune Farmers' Association said: The commune has a vegetable growing area in hamlets 2 and 3 with an area of ​​nearly 20 hectares, while other places, during the drought season, cannot produce vegetables, Nghi Lien can still maintain it. That is thanks to the commune investing in a system of wells drilled at the foot of the fields; people invest in driving concrete piles, making sunshade nets, and structuring drought-resistant vegetables such as: Malabar spinach, amaranth, squash, squash...

Vegetables grown in greenhouses are less affected by hot and dry weather, grow well and sell for high prices. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In particular, greenhouses with an area of ​​over 7,000m²Cooperatives in the area have invested in growing vegetables using organic and hydroponic methods, and are still selling them regularly to the market. The price of vegetables sold on the market is 3-4 times higher than that of winter vegetables, bringing in an income of 400 million VND/ha/year.

Thanks to hydroponics and drip irrigation, the area of ​​more than 3,000m²In the greenhouse, Mr. Nguyen Kim Nam (Hamlet 3, Nam Anh, Nam Dan) still has vegetables to supply to the market every day, bringing in a stable income. He said: "Taking care of summer vegetables takes effort, costs also increase, but in return, they are easy to consume, the price is higher so growers make a profit."

According to a survey, at the current people's markets, the price of green vegetables has doubled or tripled compared to before. The main vegetables in the markets are still vegetables from the Northern provinces or Da Lat, Chinese vegetables, and "local" vegetables are quite scarce, greenhouses mainly import for schools, supermarkets, and clean food stores according to pre-signed contracts. Some types of vegetables such as squash, pumpkin, asparagus, water spinach, Malabar spinach, amaranth, Malabar spinach... have increased in price by 50-70% compared to the beginning of the season.

According to statistics from the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, the whole province has about 34,000 hectares of various vegetable crops, mainly concentrated in the delta districts of Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Quynh Luu, Nghi Loc, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Do Luong, Thanh Chuong and Vinh City. Every year, vegetable output in these areas accounts for more than 80% of the province's vegetable output. However, in the dry season, production and care are difficult, so most of the vegetable growing area is converted to growing melons, the area is reduced, the output is reduced, so vegetables are scarce and prices are high (3-5 times higher) compared to the Winter-Spring crop.