Ms. Huynh Thi Kim Thuy (Ham Thang commune, Lam Dong province) was frustrated and removed the dragon fruit lamps because she was sure that she had lost the Tet crop.
Most farmers in the downstream area of Song Quao Lake (formerly Binh Thuan Province) make a living from lush dragon fruit gardens, rice fields and a few acres of crops. The recent flood not only submerged thousands of houses, but also threatened to cause the failure of dragon fruit gardens that were expected to produce for the Lunar New Year.
Dragon fruit withers, people's hearts wither
On December 6 and 7, in Ham Thang Ward, Binh Thuan, Ham Liem Commune - the areas most heavily affected by the floods of the past few days - farmers were seen everywhere busy pumping out water, washing young fruits, and pruning rotten branches. The heaviest damage fell on gardens that were using lights to grow off-season fruits, when each young fruit that had just set had not yet had time to grow but was surrounded by water, the roots were waterlogged, and rotten.
Having grown dragon fruit for about 20 years, Mr. Tran Ngoc Tien (Kim Binh neighborhood, Ham Thang ward) said bitterly that his garden had never been flooded as badly as this time. His garden has about 400 pillars, and in just one month, it has experienced two floods.
Last month's flood came just as he was turning on the lights. His family tried to take care of the plants in the hope of having enough fruit to sell during Tet to make up for lost time. "If it weren't for this flood, about 80% of the fruit that had just set in the garden would have been damaged. The water made the fruit small and flat, unable to grow any further, and the roots underneath would also rot. The price would have been lost for sure," Mr. Tien said sadly.
When the water receded, many farmers took advantage of the opportunity to water and wash away the mud to save the dragon fruit.
He calculated that the electricity bill for lighting the dragon fruit garden (about 15 days) alone was nearly 5 million VND. The larger investment was fertilizer and care to produce fruit, which added about 30 million VND. "It's like the capital for the upcoming Tet crop has been lost. It will take a long time for the dragon fruit trees to recover after these many floods," he sighed.
Not only Mr. Tien’s family, but also most of the farmers in the recently heavily flooded areas in old Binh Thuan province live off dragon fruit. This is the period when gardeners are turning on the lights to grow the off-season crop to serve the Lunar New Year market. The flood not only washed away a crop, but also exhausted the trees, and it will take at least a year for the dragon fruit garden to recover its canopy and branches to enter the new crop.
Mr. Tran Ngoc Tien (Kim Binh neighborhood, Ham Thang ward) washed each young dragon fruit and each leaf hoping to save the tree.
Ms. Huynh Thi Kim Thuy (Ham Thang ward, Lam Dong province) shared: "This flood is the umpteenth flood this year. The waterlogged dragon fruit has not yet drained and is now flooded again. Now it's considered as uprooting."
In another dragon fruit growing area downstream of the Quao River, Mr. Tran Quoc Nam is also in a "heartbreaking regret" situation. He said: "People have not turned on the lights yet so the damage is small. I turned on the lights, fertilized, and applied lime to wait for the Tet crop. The floods came back and forth twice a month, turning my whole hectare of dragon fruit into weeds."
While many gardens were drawing water to wash leaves and clean up trash, Mr. Nam watched helplessly as his dragon fruit garden gradually withered. "No matter what we do, we can't save it. It wasn't just one flood, but two in one month. No plants or trees can withstand it," Mr. Nam lamented.
Farmers in Phan Thiet area bring straw to dry to use for next year's dragon fruit crop.
Lam Dong asks the Government for a debt extension and debt forgiveness mechanism for farmers.
According to the report on agricultural production damage caused by natural disasters in Lam Dong province as of the afternoon of December 6, 17 communes and wards were affected with a total area of about 4,128 hectares of various crops.
In addition, 24 fishing boats lost their anchors and sank, mainly in Lien Huong commune and La Gi ward. Other localities suffered heavy damage to agricultural production such as: Bac Binh commune flooded about 350 hectares, Song Luy commune about 300 hectares, Ham Liem commune about 250 hectares, Ham Thang ward flooded about 521 hectares, Binh Thuan ward about 100 hectares...
Ham Thang area suffered two floods within a month, damaging dragon fruit gardens, the main livelihood of the people.
Regarding dragon fruit, Mr. Tran Ngoc Hien - Chairman of Ham Thang Ward People's Committee - said that there are regulations on policies to support farmers affected by floods. Therefore, the locality is compiling statistics on these damages to soon bring support policies to the people.
"The most important thing right now is to increase agricultural extension officers to provide technical support to people to restore dragon fruit trees that have rotten roots and damaged branches due to being soaked in water for many days," said Mr. Hien.
The flooded dragon fruit area is the fruiting area, ready for Tet.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - Chairman of Ham Liem Commune People's Committee - said that local dragon fruit growers are recovering after many floods. "Restoring the gardens will take a long time and they need support with fertilizer and chemicals to do this," he said.
For Ham Thang ward, the most serious damage was to households raising shrimp for export along the Cai River. Although the area of shrimp farming in the ward is not as large as dragon fruit, the value is higher. This flood caused shrimp farming households with an area of about 15 hectares in Ham Thang ward to lose everything, with a loss of more than 10 billion VND.
"I hope banks have debt relief policies and other funding sources to help them recover," Mr. Hien added.
Dragon fruit and stems are turning yellow.
Faced with the huge losses of farmers and fishermen, Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee Ho Van Muoi proposed the Government to provide a mechanism to extend, reschedule debts, and reduce interest rates for farmers and fishermen. According to Mr. Muoi, the losses of farmers in Lam Dong (high-tech agricultural areas of Don Duong and Phan Thiet) and fishermen in the old Binh Thuan area are large and many households are borrowing money for production, so extending and rescheduling debts will help farmers recover production and develop the economy soon.
Some areas have been flooded for too long, the dragon fruit garden has rotted its trunk and roots and cannot be saved.
In addition to the dragon fruit garden, inter-village roads in the flooded area were also severely damaged. As of December 7, many households were still cleaning up.
Tuoi Tre Newspaper on December 6 raised the issue of flood discharge in Lam Dong.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nha-vuon-thanh-long-binh-thuan-mat-trang-vi-lu-20251207105048433.htm
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