Many rice fields in Tam Hung commune (Thanh Oai district) have begun to be harvested. The rice is ripening in the midst of a heat wave, with peak outdoor temperatures expected to reach over 37 degrees Celsius, making the harvest even more difficult for farmers.
With a family of 2 sao of rice fields, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha (Le Duong village) has to go to the fields to harvest from dawn. "It's hot, working at this time is cooler, less tiring, if I harvest at 5am, I can go home at 8am," Ms. Ha said.
Being exposed to the sun quickly can easily lead to heatstroke and exhaustion. To ensure his health, Mr. Hoi (from Le Duong village) was already in the field at 5am to collect rice and wash it.
“Taking advantage of the cool weather to harvest for productivity, I was still sweating profusely. I wonder how hard it would be at noon,” Mr. Hoi joked.
To save labor and harvest faster, most people in Tam Hung commune (Thanh Oai district) rent combine harvesters at prices ranging from 100,000-130,000 VND per sao.
Harvested rice is packed into bags and dried in the sun.
The weather is favorable so the quality of rice this year is higher than last year. Mr. Cuong (right) shared that this year his family planted 3 sao, and harvested nearly 4 tons of rice. After the harvest, he will prepare the land and incubate the rice for the next crop.
To increase productivity and shorten harvest time, some farmers have also modified rice cutting machines instead of harvesting in the traditional way.
Because the field is small and located in a low-lying area, the harvester cannot go down, so Mrs. Tuoi's family (Song Khe village) has to hire harvesters for 200,000-300,000/day.
Hats, masks and buckets of ice water are indispensable items for farmers these days.
7-8am, people take rice out to dry. According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, Hanoi and the North Central provinces are entering a new heat wave. On May 30 and 31, the heat wave occurred more regularly and expanded to more places, including the capital and the provinces of the Northern Delta and the Central region. This is considered a mild heat wave, with the highest temperature in Hanoi reaching around 34-37 degrees Celsius.