Many raw acacia gardens in Tan Ky were destroyed by storms.

Devastation after a tornado

Although he has planted the second crop of acacia trees, this is the first year that Mr. Nguyen Duc Binh in Thanh Yen hamlet (Tan An commune) has had to sadly witness his family's acacia hill being broken and destroyed after just one tornado. After only 30 minutes, the tornado on the afternoon of May 17 caused 2 hectares of acacia trees to break in half and lie flat on the ground, while the remaining 4 hectares had their trees tilted, reducing productivity.

“Acacia trees are only planted for 3.5 to 4 years. Normally, it would take another 2-3 years to harvest them for sale as plywood. An average yield of 1 hectare is 120-130 tons/hectare, earning 130-140 million VND; but now, we can only cut them down and sell them as chips. Both the yield and quality are poor. If the price is not too low, we can salvage 50-60 million VND/hectare,” said Mr. Binh, frustrated.

Not only were the 2 hectares broken in half, Mr. Binh also had to cut down and sell the 4 hectares of tilted trees because the trees would have difficulty growing and developing well and just a small wind or rain would cause the tops to break in half.

Harvesting young acacia trees causes many losses for farmers. If old acacia trees are purchased at an average price of 1.4-1.5 million VND/ton, traders only pay 1.1-1.2 million VND/ton for young, broken acacia trees, but they are still difficult to sell. Broken acacia trees lying in the garden have dry bark, are difficult to peel, and increase labor costs, from 230,000 VND/ton if harvested normally to 250-270,000 VND/ton.

It has been the third day since the acacia fell, and Mr. Binh and many other acacia growers in the village are still running around looking for people to cut down the fallen acacia. "It's a hot season so cutting acacia is very hard, and it's the spring rice harvest season so there's no manpower," Mr. Binh said dejectedly.

Hard to find workers to cut young acacia trees

The storm on the afternoon of May 17 caused many acacia areas in Thanh Yen hamlet to collapse and cause damage. Some other hamlets in the commune such as Thi Tu hamlet and Tan Thinh hamlet each suffered damage of 2-3 hectares.

Village chief Tran Nhat Le said: This is the third tornado that has caused damage in the area since the beginning of the year, the whole village has nearly 10 hectares of acacia trees broken down. The acacia gardens that are only 2 years old are more affected because the leaves are still very good, the tree tops are heavy, many gardens after the tornado passed have tree tops bent like fishing rods. These are also the areas that have suffered the most damage, wanting to sell but no one wants to buy.

Some of the remaining gardens have been planted for 3.5-4 years and people are still able to salvage some of them, but the biggest difficulty right now is the lack of manpower to harvest. So far, only a very small area has been cut down and sold, although traders are still forcing down prices. Most people are helpless while the acacia trees will dry out and cannot be sold if left in the garden for about a week.

With over 16,000 hectares, acacia trees not only play a role in greening barren land and hills but also provide sustainable livelihoods for thousands of households in Tan Ky district. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 3 storms and whirlwinds in the area, causing damage to thousands of hectares of acacia in this locality.

According to Mr. Tran Van Hung - an officer of the district's Department of Agriculture and Environment: A quick count shows that the storm on April 12 alone damaged more than 800 hectares of acacia; the storm on April 21 continued to damage nearly 300 hectares of acacia, and most recently, on the afternoon of May 17, many acacia areas in Tan An commune were severely affected. The total area of ​​raw acacia damaged by storms since the beginning of the year is about 1,100 hectares.