Nghe An farmers 'make rain for the sky' to fight drought for tea

Automatic irrigation system in Hung Son commune (Anh Son). Photo: Thanh Phuc

Hung Son Commune (Anh Son) has nearly 600 hectares of raw tea, which is the main crop and the main source of income for local people. After the recent harvest, the tea crop was good and the price was good, so people were very excited. With money, people reinvested heavily in tea plants, especially installing more modern sprinklers to water the tea heavily on hot sunny days.

Mr. Vo Van Dong's family in Quang Tien hamlet, Hung Son commune grows 4 hectares of tea. The recent harvest, with tea prices double last year's, brought in an income of 35 million VND. To ensure the next tea crop has high yield and quality, especially during the drought, he continuously pumps water to nourish the tea from 8-10 hours/time/day.

People in Dinh Son commune (Anh Son) installed a modern sprinkler irrigation system to pump water for industrial tea plants. Photo: Thanh Phuc

“I have just invested tens of millions of dong to install additional irrigation nozzles. The electricity bill to irrigate 4 hectares of tea costs hundreds of thousands of dong per day. It is expensive but acceptable, because this is the most effective solution for tea plants to overcome the dry days.”

To welcome the dry season this year, Mr. Hung Thuy's family in Bai Phu, Dinh Son commune invested in a gun-shaped nozzle to water the tea. With this type of nozzle, the watering force is strong, the radius is wide, so it only takes about 2 hours for the nozzle system to thoroughly water the tea, and only needs to be watered once every 2 days for the tea plants to be "full of water", saving more time.

Mr. Hung Thuy said: “We have just finished harvesting the third crop of the year and it is also a hot season, so the tea plants need to recover. Therefore, taking care of the tea at this time is also very important. In addition to watering and keeping the soil moist, we absolutely do not harvest all the tea. If we water regularly and sufficiently, after 45 days, the tea will be harvested for the fourth crop of the year.”

People have increased post-harvest care of tea during the hottest days. Thanks to proactive drought prevention and the application of technology in irrigation pumps, so far, despite the prolonged heat wave, the tea plants have not been affected much. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The peak heat has lasted for the past few days, but nearly 5,000 hectares of tea in Thanh Chuong district are still green and have not been affected much. That is thanks to the proactive measures taken by farmers to combat drought in a timely manner, investing in installing modern irrigation systems, and applying film coating technology to retain moisture and protect tea plants from the heat.

Ms. Duong Thi Giang’s family in Thanh Thuy commune grows 2 hectares of tea. To proactively provide water for the tea plants during hot days, she invested 40 million VND, installing water pipes from O O dam, an automatic irrigation system and water guns to water the tea. Trenches are dug between the tea rows to store water when it rains, so that the soil is “full” and absorbs water longer.

Mr. Tran Phi Hung - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Chuong district discussed with Ms. Giang about drought prevention for tea plants. Photo: Thanh Phuc

“Over 20 years of experience growing tea shows that heavy watering is the way to help tea plants recover quickly during the hottest days. Therefore, watering must be done continuously, until the tea plants are full of water before stopping. The most suitable time to water is from late afternoon to early morning so that the tea plants do not suffer from “heat shock”, Ms. Giang said.

Mr. Tran Phi Hung - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Chuong district said: "Learning from previous years, people have proactively taken measures to combat drought, invested and applied technology to combat drought, so up to now, despite the prolonged heat wave, industrial tea trees in the district are developing normally."

According to the forecast, the weather will gradually cool down in the coming days and there will be widespread rain. This is the “golden rain” to cool down, helping people to reduce the hardship and expense of having to continuously irrigate their tea plants; with rain, the tea plants will recover better and regain their strength. At the same time, the rain will have water stored to withstand the next heat waves.