In these days, intense and scorching heat is spreading everywhere. In the “pineapple capital” of Tam Điệp, outdoor temperatures at times exceed 40°C. This turns the semi-mountainous hills of Vietnamese pineapples into enormous “frying pans.”
In such conditions, farmers are racing against time to protect hundreds of hectares of fruit-bearing pineapple fields. They are also carrying out harvesting and finding ways to adapt in order to safeguard their own health.
Pineapple is a crop that is highly tolerant to drought and heat. However, Vietnamese pineapples at the stage close to harvest become extremely sensitive. Under intense heat above 40°C, juicy pineapples are very easily sunburned and damaged if not properly protected. When sudden thunderstorms occur, the fruits can rot right in the field. This causes all the effort of cultivation and care to be wasteful.
“Vietnam’s pineapples take a year and a half to grow before harvesting. Seeing them get sunburned is truly heartbreaking,” said Ms. Mai Thị Thêu from Group 5 (Tam Điệp Ward).
Vietnamese pineapples
Across the hillsides of Vietnamese pineapples in Tam Điệp Ward these days, there is a busy and urgent atmosphere. Farmers are trying various ways to “cool down” their crops and carefully protect each pineapple fruit.
Anticipating the intense heat, about a month ago, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Soi from Group 8 (Tam Điệp Ward) proactively spent 15 million VND to buy shade netting. She used it to cover her entire 5,000 m² pineapple field that was approaching harvest. However, due to the extremely harsh weather, many Vietnamese pineapples have still been sunburned and damaged.
Ms. Soi shared: “Normally, to protect pineapples during this summer period, we have to hire workers to tie the leaves together. This helps them wrap around the fruit and shield it from direct sunlight. However, at this time it is impossible to find labor, so the temporary solution is to buy shade nets. The difficulty is that when it comes time for harvesting, we have to lift the nets off. There are tens of thousands of pineapple plants, and they do not ripen at the same time. So we have to keep removing the nets to pick individual ripe fruits, then cover them again. It is very labor-intensive. Even a small gap can lead to sunburn damage.”
Not only Ms. Soi, many local farmers also said that it is currently very difficult to buy shade nets. This is because the item is in short supply and often sold out.
For Ms. Dương Thị Lẫy’s family in Group 18 (Tam Điệp Ward), which owns 5 hectares of staggered pineapple cultivation, there is always an area ready for harvest at any time. She shared: “We have to spread nets to cover the pineapples, especially in this summer crop. With such a large area and no available labor, everything would get sunburned. The hardest part is finding workers because the job is very strenuous.”
Vietnamese pineapple exports
To protect her crops, she applies multiple combined measures. When Vietnamese pineapples are at the flowering and young fruit stage, she adjusts the rows so the leaves lean inward to protect the fruit. When the fruits grow larger, she is forced to tie the leaves tightly around each pineapple using cords. In places where gaps remain, she adds straw around the fruit to provide shade. Ms. Lẫy also admitted that finding an optimal solution is very difficult. It still relies heavily on manual labor and treating each plant individually.
Facing extreme heat that feels like it is “draining all energy,” farmers in Tam Điệp cannot maintain their usual farming schedules. To protect their health from heatstroke and UV damage, they have shifted to a special working timetable. The principle is: “Not enough work during the day, we make up for it at night.”
Mr. Dương Văn Thắng from Group 8 (Tam Điệp Ward) shared: “On these hot days, I have to go to the fields as early as 4 a.m. In the afternoon, I only dare to go back around 4–5 p.m. Then I work under lights until 7–8 p.m.” Going to the fields at dawn or working at night has become a necessary solution for farmers to maintain endurance.
Not only cultivation work, but even harvesting is a physical challenge. Workers must carry pineapple baskets weighing up to 70–80 kg on their shoulders through rough, thorny paths in the sweltering heat.
Extreme heatwaves above 40°C are likely to occur more frequently in the future. Therefore, proactive staggered and off-season planting is a key solution. Avoiding large areas of Vietnamese pineapple ripening at the same time helps reduce labor shortages and allows more careful crop protection.
In this scorching heat, a temporary but effective solution is to sell early, as shared by Ms. Nguyễn Thị Soi. This helps avoid pineapples staying too long in the field and causing further losses.
Although the heatwave remains intense, the flexibility in farming practices and the resilience of local farmers are helping them withstand the harsh challenges of nature.
Vietnamese source: https://dangcongsan.org.vn/ninhbinh/tin-tuc-hoat-dong/nong-dan-trong-dua-tam-diep-cang-minh-bao-ve-thanh-qua-san-xuat-truoc-nang-nong-gay-gat.html