Hung Nguyen farmers painstakingly build dikes to prepare for 'hunting' for earthworms
(Baonghean.vn) - These days, farmers in the lower Lam River, Hung Nguyen district, are busy building banks and weeding fields, preparing for a new season of earthworms.
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| Every year, at the end of September and the beginning of October of the lunar calendar, people in Chau Nhan commune bring nets and bamboo poles to the fields along the Lam River to wait for the worms, creating quite unique images. The nets are pulled across the fields, creating long mud streaks, so the locals often call pulling the net "pulling the net". Photo: Huy Thu |
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| According to the people of Chau Nhan commune, in the past, when the worms were still cheap, the whole village lit lamps to collect the worms freely in the fields. Since the worms became a specialty, the price was expensive at 400,000 - 500,000 VND/kg, every family with a field of worms bought nets to circle, and each family caught the worms. Before the season of worms, people often took out old nets to check and patch the damaged areas. Many families had to ask for or buy bamboo to make poles to spread the nets. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| When the old net is damaged, households have to buy new nets to replace it. Before being transported to the field, each roll of net is usually attached with bamboo stakes about 0.3 - 0.4m higher than the width of the net, with one end sharpened, to be stuck into the field to hold the net. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| Most of the fields of rươi along the Lam River are low, and when the tide rises, the banks are often flooded, so people have to buy nets about 1.2m high or higher to spread around the banks. Each rươi field has a trap door or sluice gate to place the rươi trap. Sometimes people have to dig a sewer across the road. Photo: Huy Thu |
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Mr. Vo Van Que in Phu Xuan hamlet, Chau Nhan commune said: Before the flood, his family plowed and harrowed the field of rươi carefully. The field with a lot of "ma rươi", which are small holes like chopsticks on the surface of the field, has a lot of rươi. The more "ma" the field has, the more rươi it will be. This year, after the flood, many fields are covered with "ma rươi". Photo: Huy Thu |
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| In the dry fields, the stake driving and netting are quite "clean", but it is difficult to fill the nets. Around the edge of the field, every 1.5 - 2m, people stake a net to hold the net. Mr. Cao Van Nam in Phu Xuan hamlet, Chau Nhan commune said: His family has 3 sao of rươi fields, and has to use about 40 kg of net to spread. Because the net was damaged a lot last year, this year he bought a roll of net of several dozen kg, and used it as needed. In Chau Nhan commune, households that have a lot of rươi fields, each rươi season, have to bring out to the field hundreds of kilograms of net to spread. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| After spreading the net in the dry fields, people often carry soil to cover the bottom of the net, ensuring that the net does not float or leak when the river water rises, preventing the worms from getting out. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| With muddy fields, after driving in stakes and spreading nets, people just need to scoop up mud to cover the bottom of the net. The nets for catching earthworms are usually spread in the fields for about 2-3 months. At the beginning of the earthworm season, the nets are spread, and at the end of the earthworm season, the nets are collected and stored. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| Not only do some households plant the stakes vertically, they also tilt them to prevent the wind from blowing the nets over when the tide rises, or there is heavy rain or strong wind. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| To prepare for a bumper crop of rươi, taking advantage of the sunny days, people in the villages with rươi in Chau Nhan commune all gathered in the fields to build banks, pull weeds, and tie ropes securely... Photo: Huy Thu |
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| On average, each sao of rice field needs more than 10 kg of net. The current net price is from 7,000 - 12,000 VND/kg (depending on the type of net). With nearly 50 hectares of rươi fields, every year, people in Chau Nhan commune also have to invest a large amount of money to buy nets to spread rươi fields. Hopefully, with careful and thorough preparation, this year people in the communes downstream of Lam River in Hung Nguyen district will have a good rươi season. Photo: Huy Thu |
People of Chau Nhan commune prepare the field of bloodworms. Clip: Huy Thu |
.jpg "Nông dân Nghệ An giăng lưới, đắp bờ săn 'lộc trời'")
