Hundreds of households in Phu Tho lost their entire spring crop because they bought a strange rice variety that was advertised as having super-yielding yields on social media.

Lost the whole crop because of planting fake rice variety VST-899

In the spring crop of 2024, many people in Tan Son district (Phu Tho province) went online to buy VST-899 rice varieties for production and planting. VST-899 rice varieties were introduced on social networks with winged advertisements such as super-yielding rice varieties, 100% imported, with a very high yield of 12 tons/ha, 5 times higher than regular rice varieties.

This rice variety is also advertised as having large, strong plants, large flowers, and many grains. Not only does it have high yield, but the VST-899 rice variety is also resistant to pests and diseases, and can withstand all harsh weather conditions such as storms, droughts, floods, etc.

Hàng trăm hộ dân Phú Thọ mất trắng vụ xuân vì mua giống lúa lạ được — Fake rice variety VST-899 planted in Tan Son district, Phu Tho province did not flower, causing many households to have a blank rice crop. Photo: NNVN

According to Ms. Ha Thi Hat and Ms. Hoang Thi Hue (residing in Tan Son commune, Tan Son district, Phu Tho province), a few months ago, after hearing about a new rice variety with outstanding high yield, they decided to spend money to buy VST-899 rice variety at 75,000 VND/kg from Ms. Tuyen's house in the same commune to plant.

After planting, the plants grew normally. But after waiting for a long time, the rice plants were green and leafy but still did not bloom, or some bloomed but all the grains were empty. Only then did the women realize they had been deceived.

"So this rice crop was a total loss. I was so depressed that I told the person who sold me the rice seeds, but they said they only knew how to sell it but didn't know why it happened," Ms. Hue said in a sad voice.

As soon as it became clear that people were not growing VST-899 rice, the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) sent a document requesting the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of localities across the country to strengthen inspection and control of production and trade of agricultural plant varieties in the market.

According to the Department of Crop Production, recently in Phu Tho, Thai Binh, Ha Nam and some other localities, VST-899 rice variety has been sold. However, VST-899 rice variety is a banned rice variety, and Decision No. 766/QD-BNN-TT dated March 7, 2022 circulating online is fake.

The reason is that the VST-899 rice variety has not been granted a circulation announcement decision; no organization or individual has registered to issue a circulation decision.

The Department of Crop Production requests the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of provinces and cities to focus on reviewing, inspecting and examining units producing and trading rice varieties in particular and other agricultural plant varieties in general in the area, strictly handling organizations and individuals who violate and reporting to the Department of Crop Production.

People who suffered losses due to using VST-899 rice variety will be supported.

On June 13, speaking with Dan Viet reporter, Chairman of Tan Son District People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Toan said that the district had just issued a quick report on people's crop failures and economic losses when using VST-899 rice variety in the 2024 spring crop.

Accordingly, in the 2024 spring crop, Tan Son district planted 21.66 hectares of VST-899 rice; most concentrated in the communes of Tan Son (8.3 hectares), Lai Dong (3.28 hectares), Thu Ngac (2.8 hectares), Kiet Son (2.0 hectares)... However, the entire area had no cotton or the cotton was flat, leading to farmers losing the entire rice crop, causing economic losses. The number of households affected by VST-899 rice cultivation was up to 338 households, including 34 poor households in Tan Son district.

According to the leader of Tan Son district, people saw advertisements for VST-899 rice variety on Facebook, then ordered to plant. In addition, when seeing people's demand, some establishments and households selling seeds in Tan Son district also ordered by phone, advertised on websites or directly via Facebook to sell. People in Tan Son district bought VST-899 rice variety at a price of 70,000-80,000 VND/kg.

When planting VST-899 rice, the rice grew normally in the early stages, but when it came to heading and flowering, abnormalities were seen. An area of more than 21 hectares of rice did not flower or had empty grains. However, when contacting the seller, it was impossible to contact him.

Currently, Tan Son district has stepped in to inspect and determined that this is an unprecedented incident, so people were subjective, leading to buying fake rice seeds due to accessing advertising information on social networks.

The Chairman of Tan Son District People's Committee has directed functional departments and offices to deploy urgent measures, review in detail the households that suffered losses due to the use of VST-899 rice variety, promptly support households in difficulty; clarify the responsibilities of agents and businesses that sold VST-899 rice variety to people and request the implementation of compensation plans on the basis of agreement, absolutely not allowing insecurity situations related to the incident to occur; strengthen the role of consulting and providing services of the agricultural extension system from the district to the grassroots level...

Tan Son District People's Committee also requested the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Phu Tho to pay attention to and direct the strengthening of propaganda, warnings, and prevention of the phenomenon of trading and using rice varieties that have not been announced for circulation in the province.

In addition, the People's Committee of Tan Son district and the Phu Tho Market Management Department directed to strengthen inspection, control and handling of violations in the field of production and trading of seeds and agricultural materials to prevent the trading and circulation of counterfeit and poor quality goods in Tan Son district in particular and Phu Tho province in general.

In addition, the Department of Information and Communications of Phu Tho province is requested to direct the inspection, control, and communication orientation to prevent and handle the situation of advertising plant varieties, agricultural materials as well as conditional business items on social networks...

Source: https://danviet.vn/nong-dan-phu-tho-mat-trang-vi-cay-giong-lua-gia-vst-899-20240613144837245.htm