After the golden rain in Nghe An, rice and green tea plants

This summer-autumn crop, Ms. Dinh Thi Thanh's family (Dai Dong commune, Thanh Chuong) grows 4 sao of rice. At the beginning of the season, after sowing and planting, there was a severe drought, the fields were dry, the bottom of the fields cracked, the rice plants lacked water, the tops started to turn yellow, the leaves wilted and became barren. While they were worried about the rice dying, from July 19 to 21, it rained continuously in the commune, flooding the bottom of the fields, the rice fields were full of water and quickly recovered.

“It was truly a ‘golden rain’, with enough water, the rice plants quickly turned green again and became stronger. Taking advantage of the water and cool weather, people went to the fields to fertilize the rice and focus on nurturing the rice,” said Ms. Thanh.

This summer-autumn crop, the highland areas in Thanh Chuong have encountered many difficulties. At the beginning of the crop, there was a lack of water for planting, and after planting, there was a prolonged drought and intense heat, causing thousands of hectares of rice in communes such as Dai Dong, Dong Van, Thanh Phong, Thanh Ngoc, Ngoc Son... to grow poorly. In many areas, the rice leaves have begun to turn yellow and the tops have dried up. The recent rains have helped the flooded fields, and the rice plants have recovered quickly.

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture of Nam Dan district, in the summer-autumn crop, the whole district planted 5,400 hectares of rice. Due to the prolonged heat, there has been a local water shortage in some communes; 500 hectares of rice concentrated in the communes of Hung Tien, Xuan Lam, Kim Lien, Nam Anh, Nam Xuan... are at risk of severe drought.

The rains of the past few days have ended the drought. In recent days, people have taken advantage of the opportunity to go to the fields to fertilize with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and spray pesticides on the rice. Mr. Le Thanh Hung, an agricultural officer of Nam Xuan commune, said: "After the rain, we have advised people to build banks to retain water, focus on taking care of the rice, and fertilize in time so that the rice can absorb maximum nutrients. This is an important stage when the rice begins to tiller, stand, and form panicles."

In particular, for industrial tea growing areas such as Thanh Chuong, Anh Son, and Quy Hop, the recent rain is considered a "billion-dollar rain" as it saved the tea hills from the prolonged drought.

“Without 3-phase electricity, we had to use a generator to pump water for the tea. Each time we watered heavily, it cost several million VND for 2-3 hectares of tea. It was expensive, but the tea plants still dried out and the leaves scorched. Luckily, there was a long period of rain, and the large amount of rain helped the tea plants revive. In particular, the ponds and lakes retained more water, so we would be less worried about the following hot spells when there was water to pump for irrigation,” said Mr. Le Van Thang, Hamlet 2, Hanh Lam (Thanh Chuong).

Not only Mr. Thang's household but also the entire tea business area of ​​people in Hanh Lam, Thanh Thuy, Thanh Duc communes, tea growers have a hard time because most of the tea areas are far from residential areas, the electricity lines have not been connected to the site, so people have to use generators to operate sprinklers and pumps.

In addition to the difficulty of pumping water, it also costs a lot to buy oil, while the water stored in ponds and lakes to irrigate tea has also dried up, making people here very worried. Mr. Le Dinh Dat, a tea grower in Hanh Lam, said: "Luckily there was rain recently, otherwise everything would have burned to death. The sun has been too long, I can't water again."

Heavy, prolonged and continuous rain in recent days has lowered the temperature, provided water, increased soil moisture, prevented drought and heat for crops. This is very meaningful for agricultural production, especially in tea and fruit growing areas. "Oranges are in the period of water accumulation and fruit nourishment, and drought makes families very worried. Because if there is continuous heat and no rain, it will certainly affect the yield and quality of oranges. Thanks to this rain, in addition to preventing drought, it also adds natural nitrogen to help orange trees grow strongly, oranges accumulate enough water, ensuring productivity at the end of the season."

In addition to helping fruit trees, raw tea trees, rice and other crops recover, the recent “golden rain” has also helped reduce the risk of forest fires after a prolonged heat wave. At the same time, it has supplemented water reserves for ponds, lakes and irrigation dams in the area.

However, after the rain, cool weather is a favorable condition for the emergence of some pests such as leaf rollers, brown planthoppers, white-backed planthoppers, etc. Therefore, people need to regularly monitor their fields, detect and treat pests early in a small area to ensure good plant growth.

According to the North Central Hydrometeorological Station, rainfall in the areas from July 20 to July 21 was measured at specific automatic rain gauge stations: Hanh Lam: 83.0mm, Khe Na 1: 72.4mm, Thac Muoi: 67.6mm, Thanh Thuy: 56.4mm, Na Ngoi: 45.2mm... Before that, scattered showers and thunderstorms appeared in some localities: Hoang Mai, Thai Hoa, Dien Chau, Ky Son, Nghia Dan, Que Phong, Quy Chau, Quy Hop, Quynh Luu, Tuong Duong.