Tea plants wilt en masse due to heat, farmers struggle to fight drought

Chè héo úa hàng loạt vì nắng nóng, nông dân căng mình chống hạn - 1

Huong Tra Commune (Huong Khe District, Ha Tinh) has a total area of 152 hectares of tea plantations. Recently, the peak of drought with temperatures above and below 40 degrees Celsius has severely affected this land, which is considered a "fire pan".

Chè héo úa hàng loạt vì nắng nóng, nông dân căng mình chống hạn - 2

The hot weather has caused the tea plants to dry out and wither. According to statistics from the People's Committee of Huong Tra Commune, only 80 hectares of tea hills are receiving irrigation water, while the rest have no plan to combat drought.

Chè héo úa hàng loạt vì nắng nóng, nông dân căng mình chống hạn - 3

Mr. Hoang Ngoc Toan's family (64 years old, living in Tay Tra village, Huong Tra commune) has about 7,000 square meters of land for growing tea. He said that for more than a month, there has been no rain in this area, so the tea trees' tops and leaves have almost completely burned and wilted.

Chè héo úa hàng loạt vì nắng nóng, nông dân căng mình chống hạn - 4

To save the tea, Mr. Toan's family invested in a pump system and automatic irrigation nozzles that operate day and night.

Chè héo úa hàng loạt vì nắng nóng, nông dân căng mình chống hạn - 5

"Thanks to that, the tea plants have not been completely burned. But if this situation continues, there will be a serious water shortage. For about 2 months now, the family's economy has been affected because there are no tea buds to harvest," Mr. Toan lamented.

Chè héo úa hàng loạt vì nắng nóng, nông dân căng mình chống hạn - 6

Chè héo úa hàng loạt vì nắng nóng, nông dân căng mình chống hạn - 7

In Nam Tra village, Huong Tra commune, the family of Ms. Le Thi Hai Yen (48 years old) is struggling to find a way to save 6,000 square meters of tea trees. Ms. Yen's family and 3 other households pooled money to buy a pump and pulled a hose from a stream more than 2km away to get water for irrigation.

"We also have to actively weed and hoe the tea plants to create moisture and prevent drought. For the past few months, our income has been affected because the tea has not grown, not to mention the cost of electricity to pump water," said Yen.

Chè héo úa hàng loạt vì nắng nóng, nông dân căng mình chống hạn - 8

Mr. Tran Xuan Phong, Vice Chairman of Xuan Tra Commune People's Committee, said that for more than a month now, the commune government has coordinated with the purchasing unit, 20.4 Tea Enterprise, to mobilize pumps to support households in pumping stored water from ponds, lakes, dams, and wells to irrigate tea plants.