Hot peppers dried up and died, rice had to be cut to feed buffaloes because of the drought.
(Baonghean.vn) - In recent days, although it has rained in some places, the amount of rain is insignificant, the drought is still causing difficulties for Nghe An farmers.
These days, many chili growers in An Hoa (Quynh Luu) are heartbroken to see many areas of chili peppers continuously withering due to the heat.
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| Prolonged heat has caused the hot peppers in Quynh Luu to dry out. Photo: VH |
Looking at her family's dried up chili garden, Mrs. Ho Thi Ha sadly said: "There has never been a year with such a severe drought as this year. My family has 1.5 sao of chili. If it hadn't dried up and burned, the harvest would have ended this October. My family lost about 10 million VND."
The whole An Hoa commune has over 200 households growing chili peppers with an area of about 15 hectares. This chili pepper variety is grown for 3 months and harvested from February onwards; the harvest period lasts 7-8 months/crop.
According to households, on average, 1 sao of hot chili pepper yields more than 1 ton; with the current purchase price of 30,000 VND/kg, the revenue is about 20-30 million VND/sao. However, since May, the prolonged heat has caused more than 10 hectares of hot chili pepper that have not been harvested to dry out and burn, causing hundreds of millions of VND in damage.
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| More than 10 hectares of chili pepper growing area of farmers in An Hoa commune have dried up due to the heat; causing hundreds of millions of dong in damage. Photo: Viet Hung. |
Summer-autumn rice is stuck in panicles, farmers cut it down for cattle
Yen Thanh is the rice granary of Nghe An. However, many summer-autumn rice fields in the flowering and heading stages are blocked and burnt due to drought.
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| Rice is stuck in the earing stage due to drought in Yen Thanh. Photo: Anh Tuan |
After nearly 2 months of planting, the entire summer-autumn rice area of Mrs. Phan Thi Hoan's family in hamlet 4, Minh Thanh commune was burnt due to prolonged drought. Ho Lo dam was at dead water level, so it was unable to nourish the rice during the panicle-holding and flowering stages.Mrs. Phan Thi Hoan was disappointed: My family farmed 4 sao, the rice is now in panicles, with holes, the sun has burned it all, there is no water, the family had to cut it down to feed the buffalo and cows.
In Quang Thanh commune, the summer-autumn crop of 2019 was determined to be a year of very difficult production, so if according to plan, the whole commune would have planted rice on over 280 hectares, but due to lack of water from the beginning of the crop, the commune directed 11/11 hamlets to plant 250 hectares, the remaining 30 hectares of land converted to grow summer-autumn corn and other vegetables.
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| Yen Thanh farmers cut rice to feed their cattle. Photo: Anh Tuan |
However, due to the prolonged drought, more than 30 large and small local dams are now dry, most of them at dead water level, unable to irrigate. Therefore, the conversion area cannot be implemented as planned. The summer-autumn rice that has been planted is in the stage of panicle and flowering, and is at risk of being completely lost.
Mr. Phan Duc Tien - Vice Chairman of Quang Thanh Commune People's Committee said: Quang Thanh drought is very urgent and serious because most of the rice and vegetable areas depend on dam water, the continuous and prolonged hot weather without rain has caused the dams to dry up. If this situation continues, there is a risk that over 70% of the summer-autumn area will be lost.
In the 2019 summer-autumn crop, Yen Thanh district planted 11,950 hectares according to the plan of 12,500 hectares of rice. Up to this point, the whole district has 9,000 hectares of rice in bloom, the rest is in the stage of heading and holding the panicle.
According to statistics from the district's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, currently in the district, more than 3,000 hectares/4,300 hectares of rice fields dependent on dam water are suffering from drought, of which 700 hectares are severely drought-affected, many areas are burnt and the risk of total loss is very high, concentrated in highland communes such as: Quang Thanh; Tay Thanh; My Thanh; Dai Thanh; Minh Thanh; Hung Thanh; Thinh Thanh...
Nghe An: Severe drought, fish dry up and die, farmers cut rice to feed buffalo
(Baonghean.vn) - The continuous heat this July has caused severe damage to 1,200 hectares of rice and crops in Do Luong, of which 381 hectares of rice died. The fields were burnt yellow and cracked, and fish dried up and died at the bottom of the dams.