Hung Nguyen farmers painstakingly build embankments to prepare for 'hunting' for earthworms
(Baonghean.vn) - These days, farmers in the downstream area of Lam River, Hung Nguyen district are busy building banks and pulling weeds from their 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 earthworms, creating quite unique images. The nets are pulled across the fields, creating long mud streaks, so 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 up to collect the worms freely in the fields during the floating worms season. Since the worms became a specialty, the price was expensive at 400,000 - 500,000 VND/kg, every household with a field of worms bought a net to circle, and each household caught the worms. Before the worm season, people often took out their old nets to check and patch up the damaged areas. Many households had to ask for or buy bamboo to make poles to spread the nets. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| When the old nets are damaged, households have to buy new ones to replace them. Before being transported to the fields, 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 drainage pipe 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 thick "ma rươi". Photo: Huy Thu |
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| In the dry rice fields, the stakes and nets 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 nets were damaged a lot last year, this year he bought a whole roll of nets of several dozen kg, and uses it as needed. In Chau Nhan commune, households that have a lot of rươi fields, each rươi season, have to bring out hundreds of kilograms of nets 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 to catch the worms are usually spread over the fields for about 2-3 months. At the beginning of the worm season, the nets are spread, and at the end of the worm season, the nets are collected and stored. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| Not only do some households put up vertical stakes, they also put them up at an angle to prevent the wind from blowing the nets down when the tide rises, or when 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 gather 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 rice fields, every year, people in Chau Nhan commune also have to invest a large amount of money to buy nets to set up rice fields. Hopefully, with careful and thorough preparation, this year people in the communes downstream of Lam River, Hung Nguyen district will have a good rice field 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'")
