Urgently harvest flooded rice after the flood

BTO-Due to the impact of heavy rains that lasted from the evening of July 29 to July 30, Ham Thuan Bac district had 475 hectares of summer-autumn rice flooded. Of which, many areas were in the ripening stage, ready for harvest.

Immediately after the flood receded, farmers urgently harvested these areas, however the harvesting process encountered many difficulties and the damage was also significant.

Mr. Ngo Van Nho in village 2, Thuan Minh commune, Ham Thuan Bac district, produces nearly 0.6 hectares of summer-autumn rice. By the end of July, the rice was ripe, so his family prepared to rent a combine harvester to harvest. However, after a long period of heavy rain, the flood suddenly came, leaving him unable to react, and 2/3 of his family's rice area was deeply submerged in water. After the flood receded, he immediately started harvesting the flooded rice areas; however, because the rice had fallen and the rice fields were still submerged in water, the harvesting process encountered many difficulties.

“This year the rice crop is beautiful, the yield is expected to be higher than every year, the plan was to harvest on the morning of August 1, but on the evening of July 30, the floodwaters came and submerged the entire crop, the rice fell under the water, when the flood receded, I had to hire someone to go down to the field and set up a combine to harvest each clump of rice, otherwise I had to accept harvesting by hand…” Mr. Nho said.

Also due to the impact of the recent flood, nearly 0.3 hectares of rice during the harvest period of Mr. Tran Van Diep in village 2, Thuan Minh commune was deeply flooded. In recent days, taking advantage of the flood to rent a harvester for this entire area. However, because the rice fell, the rice grains were soaked in mud for many days, so the damage was significant. "If the rice seedlings were normally flooded, they would be damaged, but in this case, the ripe rice was flooded for many days, and some areas were flattened under the mud, causing buds to form; I estimate that my family's rice is about 50% damaged," Mr. Diep shared.

According to statistics, 8 communes of the district have areas of ripe rice that have fallen and been deeply flooded due to the floods at the end of July. This not only affects the yield and quality of rice, but also increases costs and delays the harvest. The most worrying thing is that areas of ripe rice that have been flooded for many days have a very high risk of germination; and areas of fallen rice increase the cost of harvesting for farmers...

To limit damage, in recent days, in addition to focusing on clearing flood drainage channels and natural streams, Ham Thuan Bac district has directed localities in the district to mobilize farmers to quickly harvest flooded ripe rice fields immediately after the flood recedes.

At the same time, conduct inspections, statistics, accurately assess the extent of damage, and compile a list of affected households for timely support.

Through statistics and review, the whole commune has about 51 hectares of summer-autumn rice in the ripening stage flooded, of which many areas are damaged from 30 - 50%, a few areas are damaged about 70% mainly in low-lying areas, unable to drain water such as hamlet 1, hamlet 2 and Doc Lang hamlet...