In early December, it was noted that in La Huong vegetable garden (Da Nang city), after 2 major floods, the once lush green fields now revealed thick layers of mud, fallen trees, and many areas were lost.
For many households, this vegetable crop is the biggest expectation of the year. After only 2 deep floods, all the seed money, farming costs and fertilization efforts were erased. After the water receded, they proactively improved the soil, rebuilt the ditches, and selected short-term vegetables to serve the Tet market in time.
On the newly dug field, Ms. Mai Thi Tien - a farmer in La Huong vegetable garden has not yet given up her grief. "The vegetable fields are about to be harvested and... seeing the water rising and submerging them all, my heart is as hot as fire", she choked up.
What Ms. Tien hopes for most is seed support. "To be honest, I don't have money to buy seeds, and this variety is too expensive. Water spinach is the most expensive variety, about 200,000/kg. Oolong green onions and green onions have also increased in price. Here, water spinach is mainly grown, so the cost of reproduction is even higher," said Ms. Tien.
In addition, many farmers here also added that the source of seeds after the flood is scarce, prices increase, while the sowing time is very urgent. However, they still try to take care of themselves and contribute to restoring the vegetable area.
Mr. Thai Dinh Quan - a farmer in La Huong vegetable garden said that the flood swept away 6-7 socks of vegetables, many of which were only a few days away from being harvested. The damage was more than ten million VND.
"After the flood, the weather was sunny, I replanted water spinach, amaranth, mustard, and green rice. In particular, water spinach can be grown nearly 40kg if the weather is dry and sunny. If all goes well, it will be able to be launched on the market during Tet," said Mr. Quan.
In the same situation, Ms. Tran Thi Chien - a farmer in La Huong vegetable garden estimated the damage at more than 90%. Ms. Chien said that her planting area includes water spinach, pennywort and Malabar spinach. Regarding seeds, because they were sown at the beginning of the season but were damaged by floods, now Mrs. Chien has to re-sow water spinach.
"If you buy water spinach, you won't have any, because there will be heavy floods everywhere, the price of the seeds is high and scarce. If the weather is favorable and there is no rain, vegetables will be available in time for Tet, and if there is more rain, then that's enough," Ms. Chien shared.
However, on the fields that were still young, the beds of young vegetables had begun to sprout. La Huong vegetable garden farmers are working hard to plow, sow, spread fertilizer, and build ditches - gradually turning the fields that have just been destroyed by floods into green.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Tran Van Hoang - Head of La Huong Safe Vegetable Garden Cooperative, Da Nang City - said that currently, the price of seeds on the market is still available but quite high. But people also have to accept buying them to continue working because it is about to be Tet.
Regarding the damage after the recent flood, Mr. Hoang said that when the water receded and the cooperative went down to count, the total damage was more than 100 million VND. Vegetables were completely damaged, the rain and sunshelters and climbing rafts all collapsed. Currently, people are improving and restoring the land to plant in time for Tet sales.
Recently, to support people to recover from floods, the cooperative has called on businesses and donors to support gifts and the cost of buying back seeds.
"In the coming time, people will continue to produce vegetables for the Tet crop and the cooperative will ensure consumption. The biggest concern is the fear of not having enough outlets to sell because the recent prolonged flood caused a lot of damage and the Lunar New Year is approaching," Mr. Hoang emphasized.
On the newly leveled fields, each patch of green has begun to appear. Despite many difficulties ahead, farmers in the vegetable garden still believe that when they can keep the fields, there is still hope. Hopefully, there will be a clean vegetable season for the people, and hope that green will soon return to the land that has just experienced many losses.
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