Torrential rain floods peanuts, damages melons and gourds, chickens and pigs also affected, farming friends cheer each other on from afar

Text / Upstream and Downstream reporters Lin Pei-chun, Liu Yi-hsin

This wave (the 23rd) of tropical depression brought extreme torrential rain. "The sky is weeping, farmers' hearts are bleeding. The current drainage system still cannot handle the torrential rain brought by extreme climate. We struggled all night last night and still could not fight against the heavens." "Wipe your tears and keep going!" Many farmers lamented on Facebook that the torrential rain had destroyed their harvests, cheering each other on from afar.

The torrential rain has severely battered southern Taiwan. Papaya orchards in Kaohsiung and pomelo orchards in Madou, Tainan, are seriously waterlogged, which may cause water damage to the fruit; the second-season peanuts in Yunlin have been "submerged," and farmers worry it will affect later yields; vegetable gardens in central Taiwan are flooded, and farmers mockingly say, "There's money but no vegetables, the fields only have water!" Coastal aquaculture fisheries have also been ravaged by the torrential rain. More than 90% of fish ponds in the Qigu area of Tainan have experienced "ponds overflowing," making fishermen sigh, "The fish have all swum away!" "We don't even know how to estimate the losses."

Agriculture and Food Agency: The full extent of the damage will only be known after a few days of soaking

"It floods whenever it rains; we need to see how fast the water recedes afterward." Weng Chen-hsin pointed out that if the rain continues and the fields cannot drain, there will be flooding problems, which will cause leafy vegetables to rot. "However, some of these are not immediate damage. The problems only emerge after a few days of soaking, so we need to watch how the rain continues."

"The main vegetable-growing areas are all doing fine for now." Weng explained that aside from the main vegetable-growing areas being unaffected by the rainfall, high-mountain cabbage is grown in the mountains. This wave of torrential rain, unlike a typhoon, will not blow down the vegetables, and the mountains will not flood, so conditions are still acceptable, and supply volumes remain stable. Additionally, greenhouse and net houses have water baffles and earthen embankments to prevent flooding, so they are less likely to have water accumulation problems.

What about the damage to other crops? Weng said that Pingtung is mainly a melon and fruit production area, such as snake gourd, bitter gourd, eggplant, etc. Rain may knock off the flowers so they cannot be pollinated, which will affect later yields. "No flowers means no fruit."