Hundreds of tea farmers in the central province of Nghe An's Thanh Chuong District are facing difficulties as their tea crops have been destroyed by prolonged drought.

The hardest-hit areas by this severe weather phenomenon are Thanh An and Thanh Thuy communes.

Tran Van Canh, a local resident in Thanh An Commune, said that over the last year, the prolonged drought has caused many local rivers and streams to run dry. This has resulted in water shortages.

Tea crops in Nghe An Province have been destroyed by prolonged drought

Tea is cultivated over 175 hectares in Thanh An Commune and is the main income for 200 local households. Every year, the local farmers provide around 18 tonnes of fresh tea to the Ngoc Lam Company.

However, since early this year, households in Thanh An have had only one crop as a large part of the area’s tea plantations were ruined by the hot weather. Meanwhile all rivers, lakes and ponds in the commune have dried out.

Nghe An tea growers hit by prolonged drought 

Households have proposed asked for local authority support to drill wells to find water for irrigation.

Nghe An’s authorities have yet to take any actions to deal with the problem as well as help tea growers.

Last summer, Ngeh An Province for the first time announced a state of emergency across the province due to prolonged severe drought occurring in the locality during the summer-autumn crop 2015.

Of the total 42,440 hectares of the province's summer-autumn crops, over 4,500 hectares were damaged because of water shortages, including hundreds of hectares of tea.