On the morning of September 1, the rain had stopped, on many fields in Ha Tinh, farmers eagerly waited for harvesters to harvest rice. However, because many fields are still flooded quite deeply, the harvesters have not put the machines in the fields.
In Bien Bien 1 field, many rice fields were overgrown with water and had sprouted green.
To pick up rice cooked in floodwaters, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lich (74 years old), along with her 79-year-old husband, residing in Binh Vinh village, Cam Binh commune, are using hand- harvested seaweed.
The rice flowers that the elderly farmer couple picked up from the exposed water have almost all sprouted.
"My wife and I built 5 sao of rice, but when the four and a half sao were destroyed by the storm, the water was deeply submerged and sprouted. This harvested rice is only for chickens and ducks to eat, but people cannot use it anymore," Ms. Lich said in grief.
Mrs. Lich had to take her husband to shore with the heavy bunches of rice soaked in water.
"He just had a broken thigh and is now very weak to walk. Therefore, I have to take his place in doing heavy things like carrying and carrying," Ms. Lich added.
Also in the fields in Cam Binh commune, many rice fields were flooded, rice sprouted up and grew. Signs show that some fields may have thrown away this damaged rice and not harvest it.
A similar situation also occurs with many rice fields in Cam Due commune.
Mr. Nguyen Huy Vinh (residing in Na Trung village, Cam Due commune) said that this Summer - Autumn crop, his family has built 1.3 hectares of rice fields. However, the impact of storm No. 5 and then storm No. 6 with prolonged heavy rain caused most of the cultivated areas to collapse and soak in water.
"This year is a year of heavy crop failure. When rice grows, pests and diseases have to be sprayed continuously, causing many costs and losses. When the rice was about to ripen, it encountered a storm that flooded and damaged everything. The fields are flooded, so we don't want to harvest them anymore because we can't afford to pay for the harvesters," Mr. Vinh said sadly.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien (68 years old, residing in Boc Nguyen village, Cam Due commune) had more than 3 sao of rice that had fallen and had sprouted in floodwaters.
Ms. Lien also said that it is a pity not to harvest, but to harvest it, it is only for chickens and ducks to eat. While he had to spend about 200,000 VND on harvesters for each sao to increase the risk of losses.
According to the report of the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province, storm No. 5 caused 20,945 hectares of summer - autumn rice, 1,672 hectares of vegetables to be partially flooded; 2,457 hectares of perennial, annual fruit trees and 15,813 trees to fall, 45 tons of food to be moist.
Affected by storm No. 6, the whole Ha Tinh province had more than 8,900 hectares of Summer - Autumn rice flooded; 530.8 hectares of crops, 126 hectares of tea, 73 hectares of fruit trees, 10.3 hectares of annual trees affected.
Mr. Tran Hung - Head of the Department of Crop Production and Livestock in Ha Tinh - said that the impact of storm No. 5 and storm No. 6 accompanied by heavy rain caused many areas of Summer - Autumn rice in Ha Tinh to collapse and be flooded.
Before the storm, the agricultural sector also directed farmers to proactively harvest ripe and ripe rice fields with the motto "greener at home than in the fields".
Currently, the storm has passed, the weather has begun to improve, the province continues to direct the maximum mobilization of machinery to the rice fields to reduce damage caused by natural disasters. However, in fields where the water recedes slowly, it is difficult to bring the machine down to the field.
"The direction of the agricultural sector and the province is to focus on harvesting so that by September 10, the ripe and nearly ripe rice areas will be basically harvested," said Mr. Hung.
