Farmers in Nghe An are urgently harvesting their summer-autumn rice crop to avoid Typhoon No. 4.

According to the forecast of the North Central Meteorological and Hydrological Station, Typhoon No. 4, named Podul, currently active in the East Sea, is likely to directly affect provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Binh. To prepare for the typhoon and the accompanying heavy rain, farmers in the districts of the province are actively harvesting their ripe rice crops today (August 28th).

At noon on August 28th, many rice harvesting machines were operating in the fields of Nam Loc and Van Dien communes (Nam Dan district). The price for harvesting rice fluctuated around 140,000 VND per sao (approximately 1000 square meters). Farmers were worried about their rice crops being damaged by rain, so everyone wanted to be the first to harvest. Many farmers were waiting around the harvesting machines.

With the belief that "it's better to harvest early than late," in areas where combine harvesters cannot access, farmers are actively using personal combine harvesters or sickles to manually cut the rice.

The afternoon rains in recent days have filled some of the deep rice fields with water and mud, making rice harvesting quite difficult. Ms. Vo Thi Ly (42 years old) from Vo Liet commune (Thanh Chuong district) said that her family has more than 3 sao (approximately 0.3 hectares) of Khang Dan rice, and although it's not fully ripe yet, they are harvesting it all today, fearing that a storm might prevent them from harvesting.

Drawing on experience from previous years, when storms arrive, they often bring heavy, prolonged rain, sometimes causing flooding. Therefore, during these days, farmers are taking advantage of the opportunity to harvest all ripe rice, especially in deep, waterlogged fields where harvesting and transportation are difficult. In the photo: A woman in Thanh Yen commune (Thanh Chuong district) is transporting rice in a deep field.

Currently, in districts such as Do Luong, Thanh Chuong, and Nam Dan, farmers are harvesting ripe rice crops to avoid the storm, and many areas of straw in the fields have not yet been collected due to afternoon rains.

Due to Typhoon No. 4, the weather has changed, with erratic rain and sunshine, negatively affecting the summer-autumn harvest. Farmers believe that straw should be collected as soon as the harvesting machine reaches the field, and not left to dry in the fields to avoid heavy rain.

People in Nhan Son commune (Do Luong district) are actively transporting straw home using ox-drawn carts.

According to local farmers, this summer-autumn crop has failed due to harsh weather conditions. After deducting expenses, they haven't made much profit; in some places, they only harvested without threshing. With the crop already lost, the failure to harvest in time due to storms would be even greater.

Motorcycles, electric bicycles, and motorized vehicles were all mobilized to transport straw and rice back home. Hopefully, with the proactive efforts of farmers when typhoon No. 4 made landfall, most of the summer-autumn rice crop in the districts has already been harvested.