Do Luong residents have to dump silkworms because of flooded mulberry trees.

In recent days, the entire alluvial land area along the Lam River in Do Luong has been deeply flooded, including nearly 300 hectares of mulberry. Because they cannot have mulberry leaves, many householdsMulberry growers in Do Luong cannot help but feel heartbroken when they have to throw away the silkworm baskets they worked so hard to take care of.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan in Ngoc Son commune - the commune at the source of Lam river flowing through Do Luong sadly said: "My family raised 5 baskets of silkworms that were at the stage of feeding, now the river water is flooded and frozen, there are no mulberry leaves for the silkworms to eat so the silkworms gradually weakened and died...".

Currently, many communes with a tradition of silkworm farming in Do Luong district such as Ngoc Son, Lam Son, Thuan Son, Bac Son, Dang Son... are in the same situation.

Mulberry fields on both sides of Lam River are submerged in water. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

In Dang Son commune, 20 hectares of mulberry were flooded, 65 silkworm farming households in the commune expected to reach 8 tons of cocoons this year, but from now until the end of the year they will not be able to raise silkworms anymore. According to Mr. Hoang Ngoc Tuan - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, if the water recedes this time, it will take 3 months for the mulberry to grow again, however, by then it will be winter and cold, so silkworms cannot be raised anymore, so we will have to wait until 2019.

Many households have had to fold their silkworm trays and wait until next year to raise silkworms again. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

Every year, Do Luong people raise silkworms, if things go well, they can raise 12-13 batches. The average selling price of cocoons is 70,000 VND/kg, fresh silkworms for food are 60,000 VND/kg. People in Ngoc Son commune alone lost about 700 kg of cocoons during this period; Dang Son commune lost over 1 ton of cocoons. The entire district lost 8-10 tons of cocoons; not counting the losses due to not being able to raise silkworms from now until the end of November.

According to farmers' calculations, the income from growing mulberry and raising silkworms is also quite high. For mulberry fields intercropped with corn, beans, peanuts, and sesame, the average income is 120 million VND/ha of mulberry/year. For mulberry areas without intercropping, due to the high yield of mulberry leaves, the income is from 180 - 200 million VND/year.

The silkworms died and the silk reeling factory stopped operating. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

Without silkworms, dozens of silkworm farms in Do Luong district have had to stop operating. On average, each silkworm farm in the district buys cocoons and pays workers about 50 million VND per month; after deducting these costs, the net profit is 17-19 million VND during the main crop season.Now, I have to hang up and wait until next year's silkworm season.