Mr. Tran Tuan (54 years old, residing in Phuong An village, Trieu Co commune) has 4 lotus ponds with an area of 1ha. Each year, only one crop is planted, usually in March, in June the harvest begins and lasts until about September. With this area, he earned about 100 million VND from selling lotus seeds. For 15 years of working with the lotus tree, Mr. Tuan has never been in such a difficult situation as this year.
On June 11, he had just harvested about 4kg of lotus seeds at the beginning of the season when the heavy rain lasted for a long time. Just one day later, storm No. 1 made landfall, causing widespread rain, causing water to rise rapidly, submerging all 4 lotus ponds. "The floodwaters have been continuous for 10 days before receding, when I went out to check, the lotus had died. After so many months of hard work, there is no result left" - Mr. Tuan sadly said.
Similarly, the family of Mr. Tran Ngoc Thao (68 years old, in the same village) also lost 1 hectare of lotus. This year, Mr. Thao expanded the area in the hope of increasing income. But storm No. 1 hit, causing prolonged deep flooding, all the lotus trees were damaged by harvest time. "I have been growing lotus for many years, and have never encountered such a serious unseasonal flood. This is a waste of money" - Mr. Thao said bitterly.
Mr. Le Van Hao - Deputy Director of Trieu Son Lotus Agricultural Products Cooperative - said that this year, unusual weather has completely damaged the lotus raw material area of 42 cooperative members. "The factory is in the main harvest season to harvest and process lotus but there are no raw materials. Lotus trees died en masse, lotus growers were left penniless, and the factory was also in difficulty" - Mr. Hao said.
According to Mr. Hao, on average, each hectare of lotus is harvested with 2.4 - 3 tons of lotus seeds, sold for 45,000 - 50,000 VND/kg. This year, due to scarcity, lotus prices have increased to 80,000 VND/kg but there is no longer a supply. "Without timely support solutions, lotus growers will struggle to restore production in the next crop" - Mr. Hao worried.
Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung - expert of the Economic Department of Trieu Co commune informed that storm No. 1 caused widespread flooding, damaging more than 1,000 hectares of rice and dozens of hectares of lotus. The local government has urgently reviewed and summarized the damage to propose support according to Decree 09 of the Government.
"We also coordinate with plant protection stations to guide people on measures to treat pathogens on land and crops, and at the same time recommend granting lotus varieties for people to produce in the next crop" - Mr. Hung said.
