Binh Thuan province the latest affected in a series of extreme weather events in Vietnam this year
Heavy rain in Vietnam’s Binh Thuan province has flooded hundreds of hectares of dragon fruit farms and forced residents out of their homes according to reporting by AFP.
The floods are the latest in a series of severe weather events in recent months.
“We lost all our dragon fruit and cucumber crops this year,” local farmer Ho Van Trung told AFP. “My house and my gardens growing dragon fruit and cucumber are all submerged.”
Binh Thuan province has 28,000ha of dragon fruit crops, the largest in Vietnam, growing 600,000 tonnes of fruit each year.
Around 200 households and 400ha of mostly dragon fruit crops were flooded according to VNExpress. More than 70 residents were forced to evacuate while their homes were temporarily uninhabitable, the report said.
Vietnam dragon fruit exports generated a record US$1.8bn in 2018, according to AFP, but the figure has been declining in recent years. The fruit thrives in hot and dry conditions and cannot withstand immersion in water.
Floods have caused around US$85m in damage in the first seven months of 2024, double the year prior, according to Vietnam’s General Statistic Office. Ninety-one people were killed or reported missing due to adverse weather during that period, it said.
