Farmers in Ninh Binh city restore production after floods

After days of heavy rain and floods, farmers in Ninh Binh city are urgently overcoming the consequences and minimizing crop damage to ensure the progress of the winter crop production plan.

Farmers in Ninh Binh city restore production after floods

The green onion field of Mrs. Pham Thi Chien's family in Ninh Son ward (Ninh Binh city) was destroyed after the storm.

In the vegetable fields of Huong Dao Agricultural Cooperative (Ninh Son Ward, Ninh Binh City), taking advantage of the sunny weather after the storm, farmers went to the fields to "pick up" the remaining vegetables. Leafy vegetable growers almost lost everything, some herb growers harvested the vegetable beds that could be sold, gathered them into piles, picked up all the wilted leaves, and transported them to the purchasing place.

Ms. Pham Thi Chien, Phuc Khanh village said: This season, my family planted 2 sao of green onions, the initial cost was 100 kg of seeds, equivalent to nearly 3 million VND, not to mention the cost of plowing the land, fertilizer, and care. Normally, this is the best time to harvest, but after the storm passed, the onions withered, the tops were broken, and they were soaked in water for a long time, causing the leaves to fall off and the roots to rot. With 2 sao of onions, if there is no bad weather, they will harvest about 1 ton of commercial onions, with an average selling price of 18,000 VND/kg, farmers will earn 18 million VND. However, currently, Ms. Chien's whole garden only harvests about 10 kg of onions. Although the price of onions is as high as 30,000 VND/kg, farmers are still losing money and have no onions to sell.

Ms. Vu Thi Su, Director of Huong Dao Agricultural Cooperative, said: Not only Ms. Chien's family but also other households suffered losses; on average, the damaged crop area in Ninh Son commune is more than 20 hectares, mostly vegetables that are close to harvest.

"When some households learned about the storm, they proactively covered their crops with nets and tarpaulins, but with strong winds and heavy rain for many days, the covering was almost ineffective. Agriculture is inevitably affected by weather and natural disasters. Despite the failure in this crop, the cooperative continued production, quickly cleaned the fields and prepared for the next crop. At the same time, there is a plan to cope with the cold weather in the winter, expanding the area of winter crops to increase productivity and output, meeting market demand," Ms. Su shared.

In Ninh Phuc commune (Ninh Binh city), natural disasters also significantly affected agricultural production. The commune has a total agricultural land area of 149 hectares, of which rice area accounts for 117.5 hectares, and more than 31 hectares of other crops; 3 agricultural cooperatives: Thien Phuc, Phuc Trung, Yen Khoi all recorded damage with an area of nearly 30 hectares, economic value of about 3.5 billion VND, mainly rice, corn, and some vegetables.

Comrade Pham Huu Dong, Vice Chairman of Ninh Phuc Commune People's Committee said: Given the damage to the people, the commune encourages people to go to the fields to harvest as much as possible, and at the same time guides farmers to restore production immediately after the storm passes.

For flooded rice areas, promptly conduct zoning, quickly drain water from the fields. Take advantage of the sunny weather to quickly harvest ripe rice areas. For fallen rice, immediately plant the rice to help the plants recover, avoid soaking in water for a long time causing sprouting. Strengthen field inspection to detect harmful pests before harvesting such as brown planthoppers, leaf blight... to have timely treatment measures to prevent the spread of disease.

For vegetables, promptly create drainage ditches, loosen the crust, aerate the soil, and prepare seedlings for planting as soon as the weather is favorable. At the same time, actively clean the garden, clean the fields, and treat with antifungal and antibacterial drugs in time for winter planting. Flower growing areas in the development stage need to be proactively covered, monitored for weather conditions, and proactively responded to adverse weather developments.

This year, Ninh Binh city planted nearly 800 hectares of various crops, of which 674 hectares were rice and more than 100 hectares were vegetables. After storm No. 3, the city recorded 188 hectares of rice being flooded, nearly 20 hectares of vegetables and 25 hectares of corn being broken and crushed.

In order to promptly support farmers to soon recover production after storm No. 3, the People's Committees of communes and wards are coordinating with specialized agencies to survey and inspect the actual damage to farmers and research support plans to overcome the consequences and damage to crops and livestock, urgently restore and stabilize agricultural production after the storm.

Article and photos: Lan Anh