Thanh Ha farmers race to restore fruit growing areas

Farmers are proactive.

Mr. Vu Van Toan in Nhan Lu village, Cam Che commune said that his family has about 2 hectares of garden specializing in growing guava, kumquat, and banana. The bananas were all damaged by the storm, and many kumquats and guavas were also damaged due to waterlogging. After the water receded, Mr. Toan's family cleaned the garden, cut down the wilted kumquat trees, selected the living guava and kumquat trees to graft, propagate more seedlings, and contacted some gardeners specializing in providing seedlings to order and plant in place of the lost area. After cleaning the garden, Mr. Toan rented a machine to till the soil and redo the kumquat and guava planting beds. After this flooding, his family bought more land to raise the garden higher, limiting flooding.

Many other families in Cam Che also focused on clearing their gardens to plant some short-term crops such as lemongrass, chili, etc. while waiting for lychee and guava seedlings and the right time to replant.

In Thanh Xa commune, Mr. Dang Van Ban in village 1 said that the off-season guava crop had just started to yield high prices, but the storm ruined everything. The small fruits were also damaged by the wind. "Now we are focusing on taking care of the trees to restore them because the surviving trees were also shaken by the roots, so they are very weak. When the trees are strong, they will produce fruit to sell after Tet," Mr. Ban said. Currently, many areas of land are not yet dry, so farmers do not dare to go into the garden for fear of damaging the trees.

Peace of mind about the breed

Mr. Ngo Ba Dinh, Vice Chairman of Thanh Ha District People's Committee in charge of agricultural production, said that the district currently has more than 6,000 hectares of perennial fruit trees, the largest in the province, including about 3,500 hectares of lychee, nearly 1,600 hectares of guava, 350 hectares of banana, 240 hectares of grapefruit and about 600 hectares of other fruit trees. For decades, Thanh Ha farmers have faced prolonged rain and flooding, but never as heavy as storm No. 3 and as prolonged as the recent flood. According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Ha District, as of September 18, about 70% of the grapefruit, banana and guava areas, about 50% of the lychee area, and about 50% of other crops could not recover. In particular, lemons, kumquats and banana growing areas for Tet in Thanh Khe, An Phuong, Vinh Lap communes, and kumquat growing areas for Tet in An Phuong, Thanh Son, Thanh Thuy communes are likely to have all died.

According to Thanh Ha district leaders, with the damage caused by storm No. 3 and flooding, Thanh Ha farmers will have to spend about 5 years rebuilding their gardens and taking care of their crops, and 5 years later will have a stable harvest.

Faced with this situation, the People's Committee of Thanh Ha district has encouraged people to proactively overcome the damage, clean up the environment, wait for the land to dry, then harrow and plant trees according to the district's regional planning. In particular, the fruit growing area is still planned with more than 6,000 hectares including early lychee planted in Ha Dong communes, main-season lychee planted in Ha Nam communes; bananas planted in Thanh Khe commune; pomelos in Thanh Hong commune; kumquats in Cam Che and Thanh Thuy communes; guavas in Lien Mac, Thanh Xuan and An Phuong communes...

Many large gardeners in Thanh Cuong commune have also prepared seedlings to provide to the people. Mr. Nguyen Van Tung, owner of a nursery garden in Thanh Cuong commune, said that the garden can currently provide 10,000 main-season lychee and early-season lychee trees, 50,000 guava trees; and there are also many grapefruit, lemon, and kumquat trees. The tree varieties are all purchased by the gardeners from farmers in the district and have been grafted and grown for a long time, so the origin and quality are guaranteed.

In addition to Thanh Cuong, in Phu Tinh village, Thanh Quang commune, there are also many households that grow seedlings, which can provide guaranteed trees for farmers in the district to restore production. In addition, with many years of experience in fruit tree production, most Thanh Ha farmers can grow seedlings themselves to serve their family's production. Nurseries for growing seedlings are often located on high ground, not flooded, so farmers can be somewhat assured about the seedlings.