(Baonghean.vn) - A week has passed, and the "white tears" still stream down the rubber trees that were broken and blown down by the storm. Rubber farmers are struggling to salvage what they can after the storm.
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| More than a week after Typhoon No. 2, decades-old rubber trees in Tan Ky are still oozing sap. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
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| Rubber farmers liken the drops of latex to "white tears," because after years of care, the entire rubber plantation collapses overnight, leaving the people penniless. Now, all they can do is hire loggers to cut down the trees and sell the wood for firewood. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
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| Officials from Song Con Agricultural Company Limited and local residents are saddened by the rubber plantations that have been damaged by the storm for over a week, with no solution yet in sight. According to company statistics, Typhoon No. 2 caused nearly 58,000 rubber trees to fall, and over 20,000 trees had to be scrapped. Photo: Quang An |
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| Rubber trees require six years of care before they can be harvested for latex; however, after just one storm, everything was devastated. Photo: Quang An |
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| People stand stunned in front of their fallen rubber trees, having lost their daily income from the rubber plantation that their families had painstakingly cared for over many years. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
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| For rubber trees that are leaning but can be restored, farmers prune the branches and tops, use stakes to prop them up, and continue caring for them so they can be harvested for latex the following year. In the photo, Mr. Le Van Tuan's family in Tan Xuan hamlet, Tan Phu commune (Tan Ky district) has 1.1 hectares of rubber trees. Typhoon No. 2 caused 200 trees to lean and 25 to break. His family hired an excavator to pull the leaning trees up and prop them up; the cost of renting the machine and labor alone to restore the leaning trees was nearly 20 million VND. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
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| These days, chainsaw operators in Tan Ky district are busy clearing fallen rubber trees after the storm; some of these operators were hired by rubber plantation owners from Thanh Hoa province. In the photo, Mr. Vo Van Thanh from Nhu Thanh district, Thanh Hoa province, is cutting rubber trees in a rubber plantation in Thai Yen hamlet, Tan Phu commune. Mr. Thanh said that he and six chainsaw operators have been cutting fallen rubber trees here for a week now and still haven't finished the work; many families still need their services, but they can't keep up. Photo: Quang An. |
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Typhoon No. 2 caused severe damage to rubber trees in Tan Ky district, Thai Hoa town, and Nghia Dan district, affecting over 1,000 hectares and causing hundreds of thousands of trees to be uprooted and cut down. Currently, rubber growers are focusing on repairing the damage and clearing their plantations. Mr. Phan Thanh Hung, Director of Song Con Agricultural Company Limited, said: Currently, traders are buying rubber trees from farmers in three forms: timber, firewood, and trees. The current selling price is 850,000 VND/ton of timber, 250,000 VND/m³ of firewood, and 250,000 VND/tree planted 20 years or older. Photo: Quang An |
X.Hoang - Quang An
