Many tea areas in Con Cuong have root rot and leaf fungus.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai in Tan Lap village, Bong Khe commune grows 5 sao of tea, currently more than 1/3 of the area is infected with leaf fungus.

With this area, her family used to harvest over 3 tons of tea each time, but this time there are only about 2.7 tons of tea. To restore the damaged tea area, Ms. Mai's family stripped all the dry and withered tea leaves, pruned the branches on both sides of the furrow and dug up the roots.

Due to fungal diseases, tea productivity in Con Cuong has decreased. Photo: Minh Hanh

Bong Khe commune currently has 47 hectares of industrial tea plantations concentrated in Tan Lap, Tan Tra, Lam Tra and 2/9 villages.

With the characteristics of flat tea growing land without slope, when encountering prolonged rainy weather like the recent past, many tea areas have difficulty draining water, creating favorable conditions for pests to develop. Over 30% of people's tea areas are affected by fungi.

Although productivity has decreased, the price of tea in this harvest is quite stable and higher than previous years, ranging from 40,000 - 49,000 VND/yen.

Many tea areas in Bong Khe commune have been infected. Photo: Ba Hau

In Yen Khe commune, the locality with the largest industrial tea area in Con Cuong district, with 245 hectares, currently, about 40% of the tea area is infected with fungus and 10 hectares of tea have root rot.

According to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Ha - Party cell secretary of Trung Yen village, Yen Khe commune, this is not the first year that tea trees have suffered from this phenomenon. Every year, during the rainy months leading to low humidity, tea areas in low-lying areas that cannot drain water are infected with fungus, and the leaves dry up and burn.

Although people have combined the use of fungicide sprays with manual measures, they have not yet eliminated the disease on the tea plants. According to people's estimates, due to pests and root rot, this tea crop has reduced productivity and income by 30% compared to the previous crop.

In Yen Khe commune (Con Cuong), many tea areas have dry leaves and wilted branches. Photo: Ba Hau

Con Cuong district currently has 366 hectares of tea, of which nearly 355 hectares have been harvested. With the current erratic weather, the appearance of many types of fungi that cause damage to tea plants without any specific treatment has made many tea growers worried about crop losses.

Ms. Tran Thi Ngan - Head of the District Plant Protection and Cultivation Station said: Currently, infected tea plants are mainly concentrated in the two communes with the largest tea areas in the district, Bong Khe and Yen Khe.

The station is focusing on instructing tea growers on measures to clean tea fields, remove weeds, prune shade trees, and create ventilation in the tea fields. On the other hand, tea growers are increasing the application of potassium fertilizer to increase the disease resistance of tea plants...