Nghe An farmers 'struggle' to keep pineapples cool

Quynh Luu currently has a pineapple area of ​​about 1,000 hectares. Although pineapple trees have good drought resistance, due to the weatherhotThe harsh weather in recent days has affected the growth of this plant.

Mr. Nguyen Van Loi, householdpineapple growingin Tan Thang commune said that his family has 17 hectares of pineapple. Because of crop rotation, his family has always had pineapples to harvest since the beginning of the year. However, for more than a month now, the weather has been extremely hot, so he has focused on measures to cover the entire area of ​​ripe pineapples.

“In the summer when the weather is extremely hot, pineapple plants, if not carefully covered, are susceptible to red leaves and bush death, especially when newly planted. Therefore, the family has invested tens of millions of dong to buy black nets to cover about 8-10 hectares of pineapple. Such a net investment can be used for 3-4 years. In addition, the family has about 1 hectare of pineapples ready to harvest, which are also covered with nets to block the sun. In recent years, thanks to the application of heat-resistant measures, pineapples are less susceptible to pests and diseases, and have stable productivity and output,” Mr. Loi shared.

This year, people in the mountainous communes of Quynh Chau, Quynh Thang, and Tan Thang are excited about the pineapple crop because it is a good harvest and has a good price. The yield is about 35 tons/ha, and in some places with good care, the yield is over 40 tons/ha. With the current selling price of 7,500 VND/kg, people earn nearly 300 million VND/ha/crop.

To limit the damage caused by the heat, farmers apply many measures to protect pineapples from the heat, such as regular watering and using protective materials on the surface of pineapple plants. Currently, some farmers use harvested vetiver leaves to cover the pineapple tops. With this method, farmers can protect their plants well and bring high results, while the investment cost is not much.

For high hilly areas, people invest in buying high capacity pumps with overhead sprinkler systems to water pineapple plants.

Mr. Pham Hong Viet, a pineapple grower in Quynh Chau commune, said that his family has 7 hectares of pineapple. In recent days, he hired people to go up the hill to tie each pineapple leaf around the fruit to prevent the heat. Although this work takes a lot of time, it saves a part of the cost of buying a water pump for the pineapple plants. In addition, preventing the heat in this way also helps the family to check and detect whether the pineapple area has pests or not to prevent and limit economic losses.

“In addition to bundling each pineapple leaf high to protect the fruit inside, the family also covered it with straw and dry grass to limit the sunlight from scorching the fruit, affecting its quality. With the above heat-resistant measures, the entire pineapple area has grown normally in the harsh heat conditions,” Mr. Viet added.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh - Chairman of Tan Thang Commune People's Committee said that out of the 800 hectares of pineapple growing area in the commune, households have invested in buying black nets to cover about 100 hectares, the rest apply other heat-resistant measures such as covering with straw and grass; regularly watering pineapple plants... In addition, the locality also guides people on some measures to increase pineapple productivity such as pruning shoots, especially the Queen pineapple variety which often produces many shoots, competing for the nutrition of the fruit./.