Prolonged rain, vegetable growers in trouble
(Baonghean) -The storms that have lasted for many days have caused severe damage to hundreds of hectares of vegetables in the communes of Hung Dong, Nam Anh, Nam Xuan, Xuan Hoa (Nam Dan), which are the main "vegetable granaries" supplying Vinh City and neighboring areas. As a result, the green vegetable market in the local markets is scarce and prices have increased dramatically.
These days, the vegetable fields in Gia Su and Gia Vang areas in Hamlet 5, Xuan Hoa Commune (Nam Dan) are very gloomy. Although in recent days, traders have continuously flocked here to buy vegetables and fruits, they are very scarce. Taking us to see nearly 2 sao of lettuce, mustard greens and scallions that were just planted 7 days ago but are now all rotten, Mr. Huong calculated: to plant 1 sao of lettuce, the cost of seeds is 520,000 VND (400 grams of seeds), 370,000 VND for NPK fertilizer (2 bags) not including the cost of care, if there is no flood, it will be ready for harvest in less than 3 weeks. Standing next to his family's 1.5-sao field of mustard greens and scallions, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hoa (in hamlet 8) also lamented: "To take care of the children at the beginning of the school year, my family can only rely on this vegetable field. This year, the price of fertilizer is twice as expensive as last year, we tried to invest early but the weather is not in our favor. If it continues to rain, the whole Lang Trung field will be just a vacant lot"... Xuan Hoa this year produces 160 hectares of various crops, including 70 hectares of pure vegetables and 35 hectares of vegetables mixed with corn. Immediately after harvesting some summer-autumn rice areas, farmers urgently plowed, prepared the land, and sowed short-term vegetables such as mustard greens, lettuce, and scallions with a total area of about 30 hectares, hoping to harvest before the flood, but now everything is lost.
Many bitter melon areas of people in Nam Xuan commune (Nam Dan)
yellowed and rotten roots due to prolonged rain and floods.
Although flooding did not threaten Nam Xuan commune, the persistent rain for many days has caused 23 hectares of mustard greens intercropped with corn, 10 hectares of bitter melon and 30 hectares of jasmine plants to wilt and rot. Being present at the field in Hamlet 2, we could not help but feel heartbroken when jasmine and bitter melon plants had yellow leaves and rotten roots, which people had uprooted and thrown onto the banks. The main jasmine season is from March to July and lasts until the end of November. A sao of intensive cultivation following the correct technical process will yield 10 harvests per month, each harvest about 60kg of flowers during the main season; in the last month of the season, 20kg of flowers can be harvested per harvest, with a price of 18,000-20,000 VND/kg. Thus, during this flood, Nam Xuan jasmine growers have lost nearly 4 million VND/sao. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Quy, an official of the Party Committee Office of Nam Xuan Commune, added: In the project, this year the commune restructured the winter crop to grow 146 hectares of various vegetables on 2-rice land, but because the summer-autumn crop planting schedule was later than previous years, people had not planted seeds for long when they encountered flooding. The planted areas all had rotten seeds, and the remaining areas were flooded so they could not be planted.
Hung Dong Commune, known as the "green belt" of Vinh City, when the rain and floods continued, damage to the vegetable village was inevitable. Mr. Pham Van Thanh, Head of the Agriculture Department of Hung Dong Commune, also added: Due to the impact of storm No. 3, the entire vegetable area of more than 40 hectares that had just been planted in the whole commune was completely lost. Taking advantage of a few days of clear weather, farmers went to the fields to gather, dig the soil, and make new beds to plant 25 hectares of vegetables (mainly caustic soda, sweet mustard greens, spices, etc.). But the seeds had not yet germinated, the plants had not yet taken root, they had to endure consecutive heavy rains due to the impact of the following storms; the total damage was estimated at about 45 million VND.
Not only are vegetable growers in trouble, but traders are also affected. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, a vegetable collector in the commune, said: At this time of year, I collect nearly ten tons of goods every day to resell to traders at Vinh market, but for the past half month, I have been going around all day and have only been able to buy about 500kg, mainly tubers and fruits such as green bananas, coconut eggplants, lemongrass...
Many people are worried that the rainy season is only in the middle stage, and there is a possibility that there will be more rain in the coming time. Therefore, the vegetable villages near Vinh City will still face many difficulties, losses, reduced income, and negative impacts on people's lives and activities.
Ngoc Anh