Proposing banks to help cherry blossom and kumquat growers restore production

These days, instead of the busy atmosphere of tending to trees in preparation for Tet, it is common to see people in Nhat Tan cherry blossom garden (Tay Ho district, Hanoi) personally cutting down cheery blossom trees and clean up the garden after the flood.

Having been a cherry blossom grower for over 35 years, this is the first time Tran Hung Khanh has seen the Red River flood this high. “Right after the storm passed, I went to the garden to straighten the trees, and when I came back for a lunch break, I saw the water had risen. No one was able to react in time, everything happened so quickly. People here live off cherry blossom trees, now they are left empty-handed,” said Khanh, with a loud sigh.

While there’s life, there’s hope. In the low-lying areas that are still flooded, Khanh tries to use a pump to drain the water out of the garden. He says that the cherry blossom trees will have a hard time surviving if the sun is too hot, so he will save whatever trees he can. Nearly 1,000 cherry blossom trees of his family have died so far. He and his wife had to hire someone to cut them down, resulting in an estimated loss of billions of dong.

Leading us to a dying cherry blossom field, Tran Thi Chinh said, "I worked hard for 4 years to get this cherry blossom garden with all the beautiful trees. Now I’m standing here, watching the trees die without any way to save them, I have been depressed for days. I don’t even want to go out." There is not much time until Tet, so cherry blossom growers in Nhat Tan do not know what to plant, and many have considered leaving the land fallow.

As for cherry blossom trees that are still green at their top, the water has not reached them yet, but people do not have much hope because the peach roots are waterlogged. When the sun comes up, the trees will soon wither and it will be difficult to save.

Along the long concrete road, we went down to the kumquat orchard of Tay Ho district. Tu Lien kumquat village was filled with piles of kumquat trees taller than a person, cut down by the people everywhere. Everyone's face was distraught because the fruits of a year's labor were now devastated by storms and floods.

“Just last week, the kumquat garden was still lush and green, with fruits all around. Now they are all dead. I have to cut them down myself because I don’t have money to hire workers. I’ll just cut down as little as I can. I’m definitely going to miss out on Tet this year,” said Nguyen Van Sy.

As a native of Hung Yen who came to Tu Lien ward to rent land to grow kumquats, Tham was dismayed to see her wealth turn into trash. "With mounting debts, my family will soon have to borrow from the bank to invest and start over. As for this year's Tet holiday, we will be left empty-handed."

The floodwaters were up to 2 m high, and Tham’s kumquat growing area was almost completely lost. After the storm and flood, cleaning up the dead kumquats took a lot of time because the roots were firmly planted in the jars. For the past three days, Tham and her husband had to take the initiative to clean up because they didn’t have money to hire workers.

After the unexpected flood, cherry blossom and kumquat growers in two famous craft villages in Hanoi were left empty-handed because they only had one Tet crop per year. Many garden owners had difficulty restoring production due to limited capital, and many others considered leasing their land.

According to the preliminary report of Tay Ho District People's Committee, the damage to crops in the district is estimated at 161 ha, with a loss of more than VND 132 billion in terms of value. To be more specific, 80 ha of Nhat Tan cherry blossom and 35 ha of Tu Lien kumquat were severely affected. To support the people, the local government is working with Vietnam Bank of Social Policies to come up with a plan to support people and create conditions where they can borrow capital and restore production.