(Baonghean) - For the past five years, orange trees and industrial tea have been the two main sources of income for the people of Yen Khe commune, Con Cuong district.Therefore, in this area, the area of oranges and tea has continuously expanded over time (currently, the area of oranges is 93 hectares; and the area of tea is 225 hectares). However, due to the prolonged intense heat, most water sources have dried up, causing many tea and orange orchards to wither, and the risk of a disastrous year for the people of Yen Khe is imminent.
Below are images of the drought in Yen Khe commune, Con Cuong district, captured by a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper on June 9, 2015:
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| Ms. Phan Thi Vinh's tea garden (Trung Yen village) has mostly withered due to the prolonged heatwave. |
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| For Mrs. Vinh's family, 6 acres of tea plantations are their source of livelihood. |
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| The chairman of Yen Khe commune, Mr. Vi Van Dau (standing on the right), said: The prolonged heatwave has caused water sources to dry up, leaving people without water to irrigate their tea plants. |
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| The dried tea leaves are so tender that they can be crushed into powder by hand. |
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| Not only the leaves and shoots, but also the stems of the tea plants have been scorched and dried out by the intense heat. |
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| Mrs. Phan Thi Vinh's well is located right next to her tea garden, 19 meters deep, but there isn't a single drop of water in it. |
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| Mr. Tran Van Ngon's family (Khe Tin village) owns over 4 hectares of tea plantations, of which approximately 4000 square meters have been damaged by drought, and the remaining area is severely lacking water. |
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| Also in Khe Tin village, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phan had two tea plants that were completely dried up and burned. |
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| Newly planted orange groves in Yen Khe are also suffering from wilting shoots and yellowing leaves due to the heat. |
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| In the 9-year-old orange orchard of Mr. Luong Van Cap (Tan Huong village), many trees have dried-up, wrinkled fruit. |
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| In the 9-year-old orange orchard of Mr. Luong Van Cap (Tan Huong village), many trees have dried-up, wrinkled fruit. |
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| According to Mr. Luong Van Cap, a disastrous orange harvest is imminent; however, another constant worry is that the grass in the orange orchard has withered due to the heat, posing a very high risk of fire. |
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 | | Water reservoirs, connected by natural water channels flowing down from the mountains, are a lifesaver but are also frequently depleted. |
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 | | Yen Khe has five streams: Tin Stream, Stream 32, Luong Stream, Nuoc Moc Stream, and Nam Ban Hay Stream. However, the intense heat has caused three of them to dry up completely. |
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| The Nam Ban Hay stream is one of only two streams that still have water, so the locals have to transport water using all kinds of means. |
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| They used buffaloes and oxen to bring stream water to irrigate the orange trees. |
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| Kham Van Thi, a Nung ethnic minority man from Trung Yen village, has to use his strength to carry water from the stream to irrigate his tea plants. |
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| In Yen Khe, due to the hot and dry weather, many rice fields could not be used for the summer-autumn rice crop. |
Nhat Lan
