Bustling harvest of young cassava 'running from the rain'

(Baonghean.vn) - Racing against the rain and floods, farmers in Nam Loc (Nam Dan) are rushing to harvest cassava in the fall to import to the factory in time. The price of imported cassava is 1,100 VND/kg, although not high, farmers happily accept it because in bad weather like this, if it lasts longer, the cassava will be damaged.

The alluvial plains along the Lam River of 5 hamlets (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) of Nam Loc are all planted with high-yield cassava with a total area of ​​about 50 hectares. Currently, farmers are racing against the weather to harvest cassava to avoid the flood.

Cassava is grown on riverbanks and is relatively easy to harvest. Children also help their parents harvest cassava.

Mrs. Dau Thi Thuan in Hamlet 2 said: Normally, the harvest will be in October or November. Harvesting like this, the cassava is still young, so the yield is only about 1.5 tons/sao. Her family planted 5sao, harvested about 7 tons, calculated at the price of 1,100 VND/kg, she earned more than 7 million VND in this crop.

Cassava is pulled up by people in rows, and the plants and tubers are arranged sequentially in the middle of the field for easy cleaning. A few years ago, this land was often used to grow beans, with low productivity. Later, people found that growing cassava was more effective, so they completely switched to growing cassava mixed with peanuts in the fall crop.

Households use buffalo and cow carts to transport cassava from the middle of the field to the shore.

Large piles of cassava on the banks of the fields are marked with cassava leaves for sale, waiting for customers to come buy.

Traders from Do Luong come to buy to import for the cassava starch factory in Thanh Ngoc (Thanh Chuong)

People often put cassava in basins and stack them on top of each other to weigh. The current price of cassava is 1,100 VND/kg. Compared to last year's price of 1,400 VND/kg, this year's price is lower.

Cars drove into the fields to buy cassava. According to the people, harvesting young cassava in the rain to avoid rotting like this "loses both weight and value". However, this is the main source of income for the people of Nam Loc in the summer-autumn crop. With 50 hectares of cassava, the average yield is 28 tons/ha, Nam Loc farmers estimate to harvest 1,400 tons of cassava, equivalent to more than 10 billion VND (after deducting the stalk and soil).

Huy Thu