Ca Mau Farmers in Tran Van Thoi district are in the peak rice harvest season, while rivers and canals are dry, causing productivity and prices of agricultural products to decrease due to transportation difficulties.
This winter-spring crop, farmers in the district planted about 29,000 hectares of rice, and have now harvested about 50%. Since the beginning of the year, in the district's 9 communes and towns, more than 80 canals and ditches have dried up.
The family of Mr. Pham Van Hien, 61 years old, in Hamlet 2, Khanh Binh Tay Bac Commune, has just harvested more than 2 hectares of ST24 rice and sold it for 8,700 VND per kg. This price is down more than 2,000 VND compared to before Tet and down nearly 1,000 VND compared to last week. This crop, his family only made a profit of about 40 million VND, down about 20 million VND due to transportation difficulties.
Water in the canals is dry and close to the bottom, making it difficult for farmers to transport agricultural products. Photo: An Minh
The main reason is that the canals and ditches are dry, so traders' boats cannot get to the place to buy rice, so the rice is transported to the main road by motorbike. The cost of each ton of rice increases from several hundred thousand to one million dong, so the owners have to lower the purchase price.
According to Mr. Hien, in the record drought and salinity seasons of 2015-2016 and 2019-2020, the irrigation system in rural areas also dried up. This year, the drought came early, so the canals dried up faster. The drought not only made it difficult to transport agricultural products, but also reduced rice productivity and caused widespread pests and diseases.
Every year, around the 10th lunar month, farmers in the sweet rice fields in Tran Van Thoi district will start sowing and harvesting rice in January to avoid drought. However, this year, the rain ended early, so in mid-December, the canals began to dry up. At this time, the rice was more than 40 days old, the amount of water in the fields was not enough, so the yield was affected. The early drying of water and the presence of alum also made the rice grains less firm, reducing 100-200 kg per hectare (nearly 1,300 m2) at harvest.
Traders arrange motorbikes to transport Mr. Hien's family's newly harvested rice to the gathering point. Photo: An Minh
Not far from Mr. Hien's house, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Rit, 63 years old, has just harvested more than one hectare of rice, earning nearly 15 tons. She said that three days ago, traders offered to buy ST24 rice at 9,100 VND, but now it is only 8,700 VND per kg. Her family lost more than 15 million VND compared to the old price.
Ms. Rit said that not only did the price of rice decrease due to the lack of transportation routes, but harvesting was also difficult because the mower could not enter the field. According to the plan, the family's rice field was cut 6 days ago, but due to the lack of water in the canal, the owner had to take a detour. "The rice ripened for a long time, causing each hectare to lose several hundred kilograms after harvest," Ms. Rit said.
According to local authorities, the irrigation system ran out of water because the rainy season ended early, while many people focused on pumping water into fields and ponds to serve rice production and reserve for fish farming and crop growing. This has caused many roads to collapse. Currently, the entire Tran Van Thoi district has more than 330 landslides and land subsidence points with a total length of about 9,000 m, with an estimated loss of nearly 12 billion VND.
Ms. Rit said that due to the late harvest, several hundred kilograms of rice were lost per hectare. Photo: An Minh
Faced with the above situation, the District People's Committee directed sectors and localities to strengthen measures to prevent landslides and land subsidence, and protect works and traffic infrastructure. The District advised people to trim trees to reduce the load on roads with frequent landslides, limit water storage when not necessary; do not dredge land, build houses along rivers and canals to increase the risk of subsidence and landslides.
According to the forecast of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the El Nino situation will repeat this year and is likely to last until the end of the first quarter. Due to the influence of El Nino, there will be less unseasonal rain during the dry season months, and drought is forecast to be more severe than in previous years.
An Minh
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