Nghe An: Orange growers are heartbroken after picking up dozens of tons of fallen fruit and throwing them away.
(Baonghean.vn) - After consecutive rains and especially after the recent flood, in the Bai Phu orange area, Dinh Son commune, Anh Son district (Nghe An), a phenomenon of oranges falling in large numbers occurred, many households had to hire workers to pick up dozens of tons of fallen oranges and dump them. Many orange growers are facing the risk of "losing everything".
Walking along the Bai Phu orange gardens during the harvest season in Dinh Hop, Bai Phu, Ha Nam villages, Dinh Son commune (Anh Son), we could not help but feel heartbroken when seeing the orange gardens with fruits lying haphazardly, falling in large numbers under the roots. On the roads, the fallen oranges were picked up by people and dumped into piles.
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| The family of Ms. Ho Thi Huong in Dinh Hop village, Dinh Son commune (Anh Son) is gathering to collect fallen oranges and dump them. Photo by Thai Hien |
Sitting in a daze before piles of fallen, discarded oranges, Ms. Ho Thi Huong in Dinh Hop village, Dinh Son commune sadly said: My family grows more than 500 orange trees, mainly the Xa Doai yellow-heart variety, on an area of 1.2 hectares. In recent years, the whole family has worked hard, living on oranges, but this year there is a risk of losing everything whenorange gardenare falling in series.
According to Ms. Huong, orange trees take about 4 years to bear fruit. In addition to the initial costs such as land preparation and seedlings, her family has to invest nearly 100 million VND each year to take care of them. After consecutive rains, especially the recent floods, her family's entire orange acreage was submerged in water. After 3 days of the orange garden being flooded, when the water receded, she visited the garden and could not help but feel sad.Oranges fall all over the placeeverywhere on the ground, so sorry but don't know what to do, had to hire someone to pick it up and take it away.
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| Orange orchards with massive orange falls had to be dumped. Photo by Thai Hien |
Up to this point, her family has had to hire people to pick up 40 tons of oranges. Ms. Huong sadly said: "So much effort was put into fertilizing, weeding, catching worms, watering, and paying for electricity to keep the lights on to attract caterpillars at night. Now, seeing the oranges fall makes my heart ache."
Nearby,Xa Doai orange garden with golden heartThe 1.3 hectare area with 550 trees of Mr. La Huu Hai and his wife in Dinh Hop village also fell everywhere.
Mr. Hai shared: Although his family invested in ensuring care, the orange trees grew well, but after the recent rain and flood, the orange garden suddenly had a phenomenon of beautiful oranges shrinking, turning yellow and falling. Every day when going to the orange garden to see the oranges falling, it was a pity. Currently, it is estimated that the whole orange garden has lost about 30 tons of fruit. Although the family picks up tons of fruit every day to dump, it is not enough, after just 1 night, the fruit has fallen all over the ground. Last year with this area of oranges, his family earned 400-500 million VND, but this year they lost everything.
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| Fallen oranges piled up. Photo by Thai Hien |
According to Mr. Hai, oranges have a high acid content, so if they are not buried carefully in the ground, they will damage the soil and create conditions for fungi and fruit flies to grow. Therefore, he must be extremely careful. Every day, his family has to hire 9-10 people to pick up fallen oranges and dump them in holes and ditches far from the orange growing area.
Currently, the whole commune has 105 hectares of citrus fruit trees, mainly oranges. In the Bai Phu orange area, the main varieties grown are Van Du, Xa Doai long vang and V2. These are orange varieties suitable for the climate and soil conditions in this area. During the recent flood, 45 hectares of oranges in the commune were flooded, many high orange gardens had water levels rising 50cm, lower gardens were flooded from 1-1.2m. After the water receded, there was a phenomenon of oranges shedding fruit en masse, these trees were at harvest time so the damage was very severe.
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| Farmers are heartbroken as thousands of tons of oranges fall and are dumped, causing heavy damage. Photo by Thai Hien |
According to initial statistics, currently, the entire Dinh Son commune has 128 households with oranges falling en masse, with an area of 75.3 hectares, it is estimated that hundreds of tons of oranges have had to be thrown away and buried, some houses have lost 80-90% of their oranges, with only a few fruits left on the trees. Faced with this situation, Dinh Son commune has assigned staff to each household to inspect and count the damage, and at the same time synthesize reports to superiors for solutions.
Currently, orange growers in Dinh Son commune have not found a way to overcome the phenomenon of oranges dropping fruit en masse. Their wish is for specialized agencies to find the cause and have policies to support farmers who have suffered losses.