Self-help and other rescues in the flooded farmland in Henan's poor harvest area
A week after the heavy rain, Yang Zhishun saw his 55-acre cornfield from a distance for the first time. He was standing on the road beside the ground, and the water could still cover his feet. The water in the ground was at least one person high. , The small tree just exposed the tip of the tree, and the corn is completely gone.
After a flood, 14.7 million mu of crops were damaged in Henan Province, and 5.7 million mu was never harvested. Although the overall food production of the province’s over 120 million mu of arable land, the loss is still within control, but it is specific to every affected person. Farmers’ heartache is real.
Chinese farmers have never been easy to ask for food from the land, and they have never resigned themselves to their fate. They drained water, dredged the soil, turned the ground, disinfected, and replanted. After the heavy rain, sweat continued and life continued.
Never seen such a heavy rain
Before the rainstorm came, no one had thought that the rain would be so heavy. In this small village in Tangyin County, Henan Province, the old people have planted land for decades and have never experienced such heavy rain.
On August 2, in Yang Zhishun’s home in Xiyangzhuang Village, Tangyin County, he pointed to the peeling wall of the roof and told reporters that during the two days of heavy rains, the sky was like splashing water, and the roof pipes were too late to drain and the water overflowed. The wall skin leaked into the house, the wall skin fell off in a large area, and the eaves of the houses on both sides split long gaps.
The foundation of Yang Zhishun’s house is nearly one meter higher than the ground, and his yard is a little higher than the street. When the flood first came, Yang Zhishun didn’t know the situation, so he opened the door to take a look, and the water poured into the yard. , The door cannot be closed.
Fortunately, the foundation of the house was high, and the flood did not enter the house.
Having lived in Xiyangzhuang Village for more than 60 years, Yang Zhishun has never seen such a heavy rain, especially the moment when the flood water poured into the yard, it made the couple frighten and still have lingering fears.
From Xiyangzhuang to the north, across the Honghe River, Anyang County, like Xiyangzhuang, belongs to the same disaster-stricken area.
Zhang Fang, located in Wangguizhuang, Anyang County, also recalled the rainstorm more than 10 days ago. After the upstream reservoir opened and released water, the entire Wangguizhuang was flooded.
When they evacuated, no one cared about the ground. Although they all knew that the corn in the ground might not be able to carry the flood, they had no chance to take a look, let alone the ability to stop the surging flood.
Yang Zhishun has 55 acres of land, Zhangfang has 11 acres, and Ge Feng'er, who is also in Wangguizhuang, has 13 acres. Their land was submerged in heavy rains and floods. Until August 2nd, there was still a lot of Hongze, and all of them had no harvest.
Their land is just the tip of the disaster in the rainstorm.
The person in charge of the Agricultural and Rural Bureau of Anyang County told reporters that the county’s arable land was affected by 317,000 mu, 260,000 mu was damaged, and 170,800 mu had no harvest.
Throughout Henan, public data showed that as of August 3, 14.7 million mu of crops had been damaged, of which 9.7 million mu were damaged and 5.7 million mu had no harvest.
A press conference held by the Henan Provincial Government showed that the extent of the agricultural disaster in Henan this time was "the heaviest in many years."
People who have lost food
Objectively speaking, there are 122.29 million mu of arable land in Henan Province, and the designated permanent basic farmland exceeds 100 million mu. Although the losses after the flood are heavy, they will not cause concerns about the overall situation of Henan's food safety production.
However, for every individual farmer, this disaster means that their half-year sweat has been in vain.
At around 5 pm on August 2, 64-year-old Ge Feng'er was riding a small electric tricycle, and 66-year-old Ge Wenxiu sat behind him. They came out of Wangguizhuang Village and drove along the smooth field road to themselves. Check the water potential.
After more than ten days of soaking, the emerald green corn has long disappeared. In the muddy water, you can occasionally see blackened corn leaves.
The shelter forest on the edge of the farmland fell in the water, many trees were completely dumped, and the branches were still green. Someone planted sunflowers in the forest, but only a section of the scorched branches were soaked in the water.
Ge Feng'er parked the car at an intersection where the villagers who had arrived early were chatting.
The water in the village was drained, the ones that should be dried at home were dried, and the ones that should be dried were also dried. There was nothing to dry, so I just came over to look at the conditions in the ground.
Due to tight drainage facilities, there has not been time to drain the water here.
On the morning of the 2nd, the cadres of the Anyang County Agriculture and Rural Bureau told reporters that more than 240,000 mu of affected farmland in the county had been drained, but there were still 60,000 to 70,000 mu waiting to be drained.
If the water has not been drained, it may be too late to replant. Zhang Fang told reporters that one month may not be enough to dry naturally, which may affect the next winter wheat planting.
Even if the drainage starts right now, it will take several days to drain it, and it will take a few days to dry it, wait until the machine can go to the ground, and then it will be several days, and then turn the ground and disinfect it, it will definitely be too late to replant.
"This season is definitely out of play." Zhang Fang said.
Like Ge Feng'er and Ge Wenxiu, these 60-year-old farmers have almost zero opportunities to go out to work. Whether it is a construction site or other industries, they are unwilling to hire elderly people over 60, except for more than 100 yuan per month. The rural pension and the crops in the field are their most important source of livelihood.
They are also more accustomed to life in the village, who have been farming for most of their lives.
Especially in the past two years, the price of food was good, and their income was enough to satisfy their lives.
Zhang Fang calculated an account. His family planted winter wheat and corn on 11 acres of land in two seasons a year. Winter wheat could yield about 10,000 catties and corn could yield about 13,000 catties.
All mechanized planting, they hardly need to work in the ground. They employ agricultural machinery throughout the whole process. Standing on the ground, they can get an income of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan. If the harvest is good, it may exceed 20,000 yuan.
But now, more than half have disappeared in the water.
What has disappeared is food, their livelihood for half a year.
It’s not just food that’s damaged
Yang Zhishun’s loss was even greater. In addition to his own land, a few years ago, he also rented dozens of acres of land from other people in the village, totaling 55 acres. The same two seasons a year, the previous season’s wheat income was used to pay for the entire The annual land rent, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, machinery, etc., and the corn in the next season will be his annual net income, which is 50,000 to 60,000 yuan per year.
Yang Zhishun, 65, re-rented land for farming in his sixtieth year, and his family bought a house in the county seat.
His son works in the county seat and his grandson goes to school in the county seat, so Yang Zhishun needs to buy a house in the county seat.
But for a farmer’s family, the monthly payment is a heavy burden. Fortunately, the price of food has been good in recent years, allowing Yang Zhishun to repay the loan smoothly.
According to the plan, in three to five years, he will be able to pay off the loan for the county house, but the sudden heavy rains and floods delayed his repayment plan again.
Zhang Fang is also paying off his debts. His wife had an operation a few years ago. He borrowed tens of thousands of yuan from relatives, but he could only pay back a little bit slowly.
It's just that it's unlikely to pay back this year.
It is not only the villagers who suffer huge losses. As the main grain producing areas, the entire disaster-stricken areas, large and small, are paying the price for the disaster caused by this torrential rain and flood.
In Wadian Township, Anyang County, tens of thousands of acres of high-standard farmland demonstration areas were severely damaged in heavy rains.
Li Ke, party branch secretary of East Road Village, Wadian Township, told reporters that in his village, 1,400 acres of arable land, 1,200 acres were affected by the disaster, and nearly 800 acres had no production.
These lands are all in high-standard farmland areas. According to the harvest of previous years, the annual income of one mu of land is more than 2,000 yuan, and the highest can reach 3,000 yuan.
A cadre of the local agricultural department told reporters that at the beginning of this year, the local area launched a high-standard farmland improvement project, with an investment of more than 30 million yuan.
In this torrential rain, some roads were washed out and some motorized wells were damaged. These losses are far from complete.
Villagers' self-help and his rescue
On August 3, outside Wangliu Village, Anyang County, the farmland on both sides of the Honghe River was very clear. The farmland on one side was almost empty, and the other side was shimmering, making it easy to think of it as a lake or a reservoir.
Two dragons sucked water and stopped on the river embankment, pumping water from the farmland into the river. The staff told reporters that it may take two or three days or even longer to drain this water area.
Tangyin County, which is separated by a bridge from Anyang, is also in the predicament of insufficient rescue force.
In a village not far from Xiyangzhuang, a pumping truck is pumping water in the village. The staff told reporters that the first thing to be pumped is the stagnant water in the village to ensure that the villagers can return to the village in time.
The reporter saw that the drainage in the village had come to an end, and the last pumping point was a big pit in the village. The villagers told the reporter that this was originally a vacant lot, and the building planned to be built has not been built, and it slowly became a pit. It was full when the water came, and the deepest place was 2 meters.
On a courtyard wall next to the big pit, the accumulation of water left a mark more than one person high. Such marks are found on many courtyard walls in the village.
In Xiyangzhuang Village where Yang Zhishun is located, some villagers are also draining their own water.
Just at the entrance of the village, the reporter saw a plastic pipe with a thick arm sticking out of the yard, continuously draining water into the street, and then into the ground.
"I can't take care of the ground yet, I can only take care of my home." Yang Zhishun told reporters that some high-lying yards have faster drainage, and low-lying ones are more troublesome, and the house is still wet.
As for the water in the ground, it’s almost impossible to drain it personally. It requires a large pump to pump it into the river, otherwise there is no place to drain it. In the river."
The hardest thing is for small farmers
"The loss is too great." On August 3, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said in a high-standard farmland in Donglu Village.
This was their fifth day in Anyang. Since the torrential rains stopped, agricultural disaster relief and mitigation work began. Agricultural experts from Henan were the first to go to the fields, and teams of experts from other places arrived in the next few days.
Wang Qian arrived in Anyang on July 31. He told reporters that the losses caused by heavy rains and floods were very large, and some of them were almost irreparable. Especially in areas with no harvest, the water had not been drained, and the work of replanting and replanting was very serious. difficulty.
"For places where water has not been drained, the most important thing is to prepare for winter wheat planting, so as not to affect winter wheat."
For places where water has been drained, the expert team has formulated many different disaster reduction measures, including deep ploughing, disinfection, and epidemic prevention after drying the land, as well as varieties suitable for replanting and replanting.
These methods and measures were printed by the local agricultural department into sheets of "understanding paper" for agricultural technology and distributed to the villagers in the disaster area.
"In fact, the technology and methods are not difficult. The most difficult thing is to do the work of farmers, especially small farmers." A local agricultural expert told reporters that large grain farmers are willing to replant, but small farmers are more troublesome.
The expert team suggested that in places with early drainage, crops with short growing seasons, such as soybeans and mung beans, can be replanted, and fast-maturing vegetables, such as cabbage and radishes, can also be planted.
But for small farmers who are accustomed to mechanized planting, most of these unfamiliar crops rely on manpower. They lack the technology, labor, and understanding of the market. "So many places are growing vegetables. When the time comes Where can I sell it?" A villager told reporters.
These difficulties are not only for the farmers, but also for the supporting experts and the local agricultural department. The reporter learned that the supporting expert team promised to provide technical support throughout the growing period of replanting crops, including technical support during the winter wheat planting period. The local agricultural department is also organizing forces to help villagers replant after the disaster, but they are also unable to predict the amount of benefit.
Replanting is not just about disaster reduction
Compared with small farmers, emerging business entities such as large grain farmers, cooperatives, and family farms are obviously more enthusiastic.
Li Ke, party branch secretary of Donglu Village, told reporters that the 1,400 acres of land in Donglu Village had been pre-circulated at the beginning of this year. The land was transferred from villagers to village collectives at a price of 1,000 yuan per acre. Unified farming. By October this year, collective farming by the village officially began.
In other words, the damaged corn was the last crop grown by the villagers themselves.
At 2 pm on August 10, Li Ke came to the field to check the drying situation.
The ground is dry, and the machine can go to the ground.
This is the last time for replanting. It is only 2 months before the winter wheat is planted. No matter how late, there will be no chance for replanting.
Soon, several agricultural machinery with different divisions of labor began to work in the field. The harvester cuts the dead or half-dry corn and collects it. The cultivator performs deep overturning. Then, the drone sprays the specially formulated disinfectant, and finally, the seed is sowed. The machine planted mung beans, soybeans, corn, etc.
The villagers sprayed 84 disinfectant on field roads to minimize the possibility of virus breeding.
Li Ke told reporters that all replanting machinery, seeds, fertilizers, and disinfection drugs are provided by the government free of charge, and all the income belongs to the farmers themselves.
According to data released by the Henan Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department on August 10, as of that day, the province had already replanted 208,400 mu of crops such as corn, beans, and vegetables, accounting for 23.2% of the province’s current land plots that could be replanted without harvest.
More places where there are no conditions for replanting and replanting are preparing for the planting of winter wheat.
On August 10, Yang Zhishun told reporters that his field had already been drained and it would be drained within a few days. Although dredging, plowing, disinfection, etc. would be required later, there was no opportunity to replant, but at least, It will not affect the winter wheat planting, and the next harvest can still be expected.
Beijing News reporter Zhou Huaizong