Bac Ninh: Urgent efforts underway to harvest flooded rice crops.

On the morning of October 9th, the Department of Irrigation Works Management and Construction ( Ministry of Agriculture and Environment ) requested a temporary halt to flood discharge from reservoirs, sluices, and pumping stations into these two rivers in order to reduce flood pressure and protect the safety of dikes.

At noon on October 9th, the Thuong River remained at a high level, and pumping stations were unable to operate to drain water from the fields into the river.

However, the shutdown of pumping stations prevented water from draining from the fields, resulting in thousands of hectares of rice and other crops being deeply submerged. Facing the risk of total crop loss, local authorities used loudspeakers to announce and instruct people to urgently retrieve ripe rice from the water to harvest it and minimize losses.

Mr. Nguyen Van Chac, head of Phuc Man village, My Thai commune, said: "As soon as we received the notification, we used loudspeakers to advise people whose ripe rice was flooded to harvest it urgently. With the hot weather and prolonged flooding, the rice is easily damaged and can't be delayed."

People in My Thai commune are harvesting their flooded ripe rice crops in the hope of salvaging whatever they can.

In the communes of My Thai, Lang Giang, Tan An ward, Kep commune, etc., people are racing against time to save their rice crops. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuc, from Trai Phuc Man village, My Thai commune, wading through waist-deep floodwaters, pushing bundles of rice stalks on a halved plastic drum, sighed: “My family has 5 sao (approximately 0.5 hectares) of land, and 3.5 sao are flooded. This morning, I tried to salvage whatever rice I could, because I couldn’t salvage it all. This year’s production has been so difficult; the rain has been incessant, the rice fields are flooded, and the roads are flooded too.”

According to statistics, the entire province currently has about 8,000 hectares of rice and other crops flooded, concentrated in the communes of Yen The, Bo Ha, Dong Ky, Que Nham, My Thai, Tien Luc, etc. Authorities are coordinating with local governments to support people in overcoming the damage and are also developing plans to restore production after the storm to compensate for the lost yield.

Text and photos: Truong Son

Source: https://baobacninhtv.vn/bac-ninh-khan-truong-thu-hoach-lua-bi-ngap-postid428458.bbg