Quy Chau farmers work hard to restore land for spring crop production

Efforts to restore productive land

3 months after the attackhistorical flood, besides the damage to people's houses and properties, hundreds of hectares of productive land were buried under a thick layer. Therefore, to restore production and stabilize life, the repair and treatment of damaged land and irrigation works is the top priority in this locality.

Taking advantage of the sunny weather, Mr. Le Van Bao and his wife, Na Xen village, Chau Hanh commune, went to the field to reclaim 4 sao of rice fields that had been buried by rocks and sand during the flood. Using hoes and shovels, the couple tried their best to dig up 30 - 40cm thick layers of sand.

Mr. Bao said: To prepare for the upcoming spring rice crop, we focus on improving the soil and sowing seeds. My husband and I work hard, but now renting an excavator would cost a lot of money, but we haven't had our turn yet because there are few machines, and many other households are also in need.

Chau Hanh Commune is one of the localities that suffered the most damage after the recent flood. Local people shared that after the flood, everyone was in a difficult situation, the cost of renting an excavator was from 500,000 to 700,000 VND/hour, which was too much for the people in the mountainous region. Therefore, people gathered into teams to support each other; this was the most feasible solution at the moment. People helped each other without calculating wages, the fields were gradually restored, and solidarity grew stronger.

Mr. Vi The Long - Chairman of Chau Hanh Commune People's Committee said: Currently, for the damaged irrigation works, the commune has sent a document to the district and the district has also directed the irrigation enterprise to support the restoration for the locality. For the restoration of production land, the commune's budget is actually not enough to rent a large number of machines for the people, so on the one hand, the people take the initiative to fix it, on the other hand, the commune requests the district to support the cost of renting machines for the people, focusing on the villages that are heavily damaged such as: Na Xen, Minh Chau, Pa Lanh, Minh Tien...

According to Mr. Luong Van Truong, owner of excavator in the areaQuy Chau districtSince the flood, he has not run out of work every day because not only have he cleared damaged structures, but the number of people hiring machines to level the land has also increased significantly. He has also hired more workers to share the work.

“There are independent rice fields, located on high ground, the road was washed away by flood water, and the road had to be opened for the machine to go up, so it took a lot of time and the field owner also accepted the additional cost. If not using an excavator, human power could not overcome it, because the layer of alluvial soil and rock was too thick. However, the economic conditions of the people were difficult, so we actively operated the machine and reduced the cost for the people. Many families did not have money and had to pay for the machine, I was also willing to accept it,” said Mr. Truong.

District support machine still not enough

According to statistics from Quy Chau district, the historic flood 3 months ago caused serious consequences in the area with thousands of houses deeply submerged, many traffic routes were eroded and cut off. The flood also killed 776 livestock and 23,032 poultry; the area of ​​rice fields buried was 850.48 hectares; the area of ​​annual crops flooded and broken: 234.45 hectares... The total estimated damage was more than 177 billion VND, this figure is more than 6.5 times the total budget revenue of the whole district in 2022.

Regarding agricultural production, the restoration work is assessed by Quy Chau district as very difficult due to the large cost. Not only is the production land lost due to being buried, but after the flood, the land area along the river banks and streams is also heavily eroded. Therefore, the district is currently making efforts to carry out the restoration work within its capacity, but the rest must still be proposed to the relevant levels for financial support for long-term stability.

According to information from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quy Chau district, since November, the whole district has mobilized the entire population to work on irrigation. Localities have directed people to repair and dredge canals in the fields, and to repair the buried fields within their capacity; at the same time, the irrigation sector has repaired damaged irrigation works. The motto is to repair as much as possible before proceeding with spring crop production.

As the spring rice production season is approaching, at the end of December, the People's Committee of Quy Chau district will mobilize more excavators to the grassroots to participate in repairing the fields.

Accordingly, households who need to restore their production land by using machines must register with the commune or district based on the list reported by the commune to dispatch machines to serve the people. The proposed plan is that the district will support the machines, and the people will pay for the cost of buying gasoline. However, due to the small number of machines, the number of households registering will be very large, so for some small areas, people will have to accept to fix it themselves by hand, or hire outside machines to keep up with the season.