Locusts destroy waterways, people lose bamboo shoots

(QBĐT) - In the town of Nong Truong Viet Trung (Bo Trach), there is a locust infestation, causing many bamboo areas to be stripped of their leaves, leading to a loss of the bamboo shoot crop.

 

Sharing with us, Mr. Nguyen Van Minh in cluster 7, Chien Thang residential group, Nong truong Viet Trung town (Bo Trach) said that his family planted about 400 bamboo trees (2 hectares). The locust infestation started last year with a small area of ​​bamboo trees whose leaves were eaten.

 

However, in the past month, locusts have been destroying and eating bamboo leaves in large numbers. Bamboo growers have bought pesticides to spray themselves, but the number of locusts that have died is insignificant, because the bamboo trees are tall and cannot be sprayed thoroughly.

The entire bamboo forest in Chien Thang residential group, Viet Trung Farm town (Bo Trach) is left bare because of locust damage.

“Bamboo shoots are a type of bamboo shoot tree, providing the main source of income for most people in the area. Currently, due to the locusts eating all the leaves, most of the bamboo shoots that grow are stiff and cannot grow, affecting productivity. Normally, with 400 bamboo shoots, every 3 days of picking, my family can harvest about 200 kg of bamboo shoots, but now, it takes 6-7 days to get 14 kg,” Mr. Minh worried.

 

Taking us to visit the bamboo forest, the locals couldn’t help but feel sad when they saw the straight, lush bamboo trees, now only bare branches. Thousands of locusts perched densely on the trees, after eating all the leaves in one area, they moved to another area to destroy at a fairly fast speed. According to observations by the locals, every 2 days, the locusts would eat all the leaves of 1 hectare of bamboo trees.

Grasshoppers are densely packed on the branches of the bamboo forest.

Chien Thang residential group currently grows about 20 hectares of bamboo shoots, with 21 households participating. Annual income from bamboo shoot harvesting is about 60-80 million VND/ha (equivalent to about 200 bamboo shoots). Bamboo shoots are harvested year-round, with the highest output from March to October. However, with the current locust infestation, bamboo growers are extremely worried because their main source of income is being affected.

 

Ms. Nguyen Thi Chuong, Group 7, Chien Thang residential group has about 80 bamboo shoots, planted for 17 years. Ms. Chuong said: “Bamboo shoots are our main source of income, but with the current locust damage, the bamboo shoots cannot grow. Bamboo shoot growers hope that authorities at all levels and functional agencies will pay attention, promptly guide and support people to kill locusts.”

Locusts damaged many bamboo shoots of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Chuong's family and prevented them from growing.

Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Viet Trung Farm Town, Hoang Minh Trung, said: "This is the first time in the town that locusts have destroyed a large area of ​​crops, so people do not have experience in handling it. After receiving feedback from the people, we went to check the actual situation in the bamboo forest. Currently, 7/20 hectares of bamboo trees have had their leaves eaten by locusts. The town People's Committee will send a document to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Bo Trach district and specialized agencies to inspect and promptly guide people on how to handle it."

Grasshoppers, scientifically known as Caelifera, are a species of insect, belonging to the suborder containing leaf-eating insects, belonging to the order Orthoptera, with round heads, thick bodies, good jumpers and especially harmful to green plants. When moving, they can crawl on trees with all three pairs of legs, jump from tree to tree with their hind legs or jump and fly into the air with their wings.

According to the assessment of the leaders of the People's Committee of Nong Truong Viet Trung town, with the area of ​​bamboo trees destroyed by locusts as it is now, it is determined that this bamboo shoot season, farmers will basically lose their crop. However, it is hoped that after finding a suitable solution, in the following bamboo shoot seasons, farmers will be more proactive in preventing and fighting diseases, especially locusts, to ensure crop productivity and output.

Le Mai

Source: https://baoquangbinh.vn/kinh-te/202506/chau-chau-pha-luong-nguoi-dan-mat-mua-mang-2226827/