Early in the morning, Ms. Phan Thi Chinh (living in Cam Le ward, Da Nang) went to La Huong vegetable farm to take care of the only Malabar spinach bed that survived the recent flood. There are about 3,500m2 of all kinds of vegetables such as water spinach, Malabar spinach, sweet potato leaves, corn, onions, garlic... but for nearly a month now, her family has had to buy a bunch of vegetables and run around every meal because all the crops are rotten in floodwater.
Not only the damage to crops, all agricultural tools and fertilizers of many households in La Huong vegetable village are also broken. Ms. Chinh and many households in recent days have taken advantage of the dry weather to pick damaged vegetables and plant short-term vegetables to serve the last months of the year and the upcoming Tet crop.
"In less than a month, the clean vegetable area of La Huong along the river has suffered 3 floods. This year, flooding is everywhere, vegetable prices have increased but there is no sale" - Ms. Chinh said.
Not only in La Huong clean vegetable farm, in Bau Tron field (Dai Loc commune, Da Nang), after the continuous flood, the lush green vegetable beds are now rotten. Many households almost lost everything when they poured capital, planted all kinds of vegetables such as apricot, cucumber, papaya... but the flood came and swept them all away.
According to statistics from the People's Committee of Dai Loc commune, in the two specialized areas of Bau Tron and Lien Thuan alone, more than 45 hectares were damaged, of which more than 70% of the area was completely damaged. The locality continues to count the damage in the entire commune, promptly deploying support plans for people to soon restore production.
Ms. Ngo Thi Thu Van - Deputy Director of the Agricultural Extension Center of Da Nang City - informed that immediately after the water receded, the Department of Agriculture and Environment promptly implemented environmental treatment, disinfection, disease control, and at the same time instructed farmers to restore production land, clean the fields and prepare to sow new crops.
Mr. Vu Ngoc An - representative of the Provincial Civil Defense Command, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Gia Lai - said that the flood from upstream damaged agricultural works. The western area of Gia Lai is a specialized area for agricultural crops with thousands of hectares, while the eastern area is mainly used for aquaculture and seafood exploitation on cages and ponds.
In communes and wards along the Ba River in western Gia Lai, floodwaters also submerged crops and roads of thousands of households. The communes and wards in the west of Gia Lai mainly produce agriculture with crops such as coffee, durian, banana, pepper, etc. Heavy rain and flooding have significantly affected perennial crops, including coffee trees.
Many banana areas were broken; coffee was damaged by the growing area along rivers and streams, landslides, and fallen fruit during the harvest period. Ms. Nguyen Thi Lua - resident of Bo Ngoong commune - said: "During the peak coffee harvest season, continuous rain made it difficult to dry agricultural products. Some households were harvesting on the fields when suddenly floodwaters came, sweeping away a lot of coffee. Natural disasters make life more difficult.
Thousands of hectares of coffee in Gia Lai are in the harvest season. The flood caused the harvest to be interrupted, making it difficult for workers to enter the garden, and many ripe fruits fell off, affecting productivity and quality. In communes such as Ia Rsai, Ia Hiao, Po To, Ia Pa, Ayun Pa... local authorities have mobilized forces to go to their homes to rescue people, while supporting the transportation of food and agricultural products of the people to higher ground.
