Growing short-term flowers, earning income during Tet 2025
According to Lao Dong on September 21, more than a week after the storm, peach gardens in Phu Thuong ward have become barren. Peach trees prepared for Tet are now lying bare, with little chance of recovery.
Ms. Pham Thi Mat (64 years old), a peach garden owner in Phu Thuong ward, Tay Ho, Hanoi, confided that her peach garden has an area of 3,000m2, billions of dong invested in it, now it is all gone, nothing left.
According to Ms. Mat, although her family took proactive measures to prevent the peach trees from dying, because the flood water rose too quickly and high, all efforts were in vain, with estimated damage of nearly 500 million VND.
“Recently, the Tay Ho district government announced a policy to lend money to farmers affected by the flood at low interest rates. Hopefully, with this loan, we can soon recover the damaged crops and restore the lost peach orchards,” Ms. Mat shared.
Also a peach garden owner in Phu Thuong ward, Mr. Pham Thanh Cong said, now I have to wait until January next year, when the peach trees are brought back from the forest by traders, then I can start planting again. It will take 2 to 3 more years to harvest the peach trees.
“From local recommendations, the family has chosen to buy chrysanthemum and flower varieties for decoration and offerings to plant and harvest in time for sale on the occasion of Lunar New Year 2025 because there are only about 3 months left until Tet,” Mr. Cong added.
Prepare 85 billion VND for farmers to borrow with low interest rates
According to Mr. Hoang Chinh Nghia, Director of the Vietnam - Mongolia Friendship Agricultural Service Cooperative (Phu Thuong Ward, Tay Ho, Hanoi), the recent flood completely damaged about 85 hectares of crops in the ward.
Mr. Nghia added that in order to support cooperative members to overcome difficulties and restore production, the Cooperative has provided direct financial support to members, with a support level of 3,000 VND/m2 of affected crops.
“This money not only helps people have capital to reinvest in new production activities, but also opens up opportunities for them to change crop models to be more suitable to current weather and land conditions,” Mr. Nghia shared.
Mr. Tran Gia Hung, Head of Economic Division, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue of the People's Committee of Tay Ho District, Hanoi, said that nearly 180 hectares of crops in the district were completely destroyed by flooding. The total economic damage is estimated at about 87 billion VND.
"In order to restore agricultural production for farmers, Tay Ho district has developed a plan, allocating about 85 billion VND for low-interest loans, encouraging people to choose to grow short-term flowers to ensure income for the Lunar New Year 2025," Mr. Hung added.
