Farmers lost hundreds of millions of dong because oranges fell due to floods

(Baonghean.vn) - Prolonged heavy rain caused dozens of tons of oranges of Con Cuong people during the harvest period to fall, causing damage of hundreds of millions of dong.

Mr. Phung Ngoc Binh's household in Pha village, Yen Khe commune has 2 hectares of oranges with 650 trees in the harvest period, initially estimated that this year's orange crop will yield about 20 tons. However, due to prolonged rain and wind, his orange garden has lost 6 tons of fruit in the past few days, with the current selling price of 28 thousand VND/kg, the loss is nearly 200 million VND.

Mr. Phung Ngoc Binh's household estimated that 6 tons of oranges fell during the flood. Photo: Ba Hau

Mr. Le Minh Luu's household in Na Pha village, Yen Khe commune has 2.5 hectares of oranges. On this area, he invested in planting 1,000 orange trees, of which 520 are BH orange trees.Mr. Luu said: Currently, it is the time to harvest the early orange variety, but for many days due to heavy rain, the oranges have fallen yellow all over the tree. It is very painful but not knowing what to do, we have to pick them up and throw them away. According to initial estimates, Mr. Luu's family lost nearly 10 tons of oranges, with a total loss of nearly 300 million VND.

To salvage some of the losses, many households braved the rain to pick up newly fallen fruits and sell them at the market for 4-5 thousand VND/kg. But the number of buyers was very small.

Many households take advantage of newly fallen fruits to sell. Photo: Minh Hanh

Currently, Con Cuong has 310 hectares of oranges, of which 97 hectares have been harvested. Of which, Yen Khe is the locality with the largest orange area in the district with 259.5 hectares.

Fallen oranges are taken away to be dumped. Photo: Minh Hanh

Mr. Vi Van Dau, Chairman of Yen Khe Commune People's Committee, said: The whole commune has 58 hectares of oranges that have been harvested, with an estimated yield and output of 110-120 tons/ha. According to initial statistics, about 1/3 of the orange output in the area has fallen, with total damage of hundreds of millions of dong. The worrying thing is that heavy rain continues to fall in the area, and many oranges on the trees are showing signs of stem damage and falling off.

Ba Hau - Minh Hanh