Winter-spring rice harvest

Currently, farmers in the province are entering the peak harvest of the 2022-2023 winter-spring rice crop. Everywhere in the province, one can see images of golden rice fields, heavy with grain, and the bright smiles of farmers.

Rarely high productivity

In the hot summer sun, the atmosphere of the winter-spring rice harvest is still busy and bustling. Combine harvesters work tirelessly from one field to another, helping people reduce the heavy labor. At Cung field (Ninh My commune, Hoa Lu district), many people are on duty at the edge of the field with sacks and trailers, just waiting for the harvester to "sweep" by and then take the rice home to dry.

Mr. Pham Van Truong (Nhan Ly village) excitedly shared: "There has never been a year when rice was as "healthy" as this year. The weather was very favorable, there were few pests and diseases, the rice was only slightly infected with rice blast at the time of heading, but I hired a plane to spray the pesticide once and it was gone. When the rice was ripening, the weather was warm and sunny, and now after harvesting, the weather is dry so there was no loss. Although I have not yet measured it specifically, the yield is definitely not less than 2 quintals/sao".

Mr. Le Van Duc also could not hide his joy: "This crop, my family planted 3 hectares, mainly Nep 97 variety, only half harvested but the yield will increase by 1 truckload of rice compared to last year. In general, we farmers are very excited because the hard work of working in the sun and rain for many days has been worth it." Not only Hoa Lu district, winter-spring rice in Yen Khanh district is also doing very well.

At the joint field between Kien Thai Agricultural Cooperative (Khanh Trung Commune) with Hong Quang Agricultural Materials Company and Cuong Tan Company Limited, producing Nep Huong, Huong Binh, Huong Com,... rice plants are as neat as a carpet. Mr. Dinh Van Thuyet, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cooperative said: "This year's rice harvest is bumper, with varieties like Huong Binh reaching a record yield of 2.8-2.9 quintals/sao, the rest have an average yield of 2.5-2.6 quintals/sao, the lowest is over 2 quintals/sao. This achievement is partly due to favorable weather, and partly because in the past 3 years we have shifted to organic farming, so the land has been improved and restored, creating conditions for rice plants to grow and develop well, giving high yields".

It is known that thanks to the production linkage with companies, farmers in Kien Thai Cooperative as well as many other cooperatives sell fresh rice right in the field without having to spend time drying it. With a good harvest and stable selling prices, all farmers are very excited.

Total victory

In the 2022-2023 winter-spring crop, the province will plant 39,554.4 hectares of rice, mainly in the late spring crop with 80% of the area planted with pure rice and 20% hybrid rice. As of May 31, the province has harvested nearly 16,300 hectares (41% of the total area).

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, Deputy Head of the Provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, said: Through actual inspection and assessment by localities, it shows that this year's winter-spring crop is a good harvest in both early and late spring crops, with estimated yields higher than the 2021-2022 winter-spring crop. This victory is not only due to favorable weather conditions for rice growth and development, but also the result of promoting the application of advances in varieties, fertilizers and cultivation techniques in production. In particular, there has been focused and synchronous direction from the province to the grassroots to ensure the production plan, especially the correct implementation of the crop schedule, tea structure, rice variety structure, and technical measures to respond to fluctuations in weather and pests.

According to Mr. Tuan, the success of this year's winter-spring rice crop is not only in terms of productivity but also reflected in the internal production process. Specifically: In this crop, localities in the province have strongly shifted from sowing to transplanting, bringing the proportion of transplanted rice to 50% of the total cultivated area.

In particular, thanks to the agricultural machinery support policy under Resolution No. 32/2022/NQ-HDND dated July 15, 2022 of the Provincial People's Council, many agricultural cooperatives and people have boldly registered to apply and expand the area of machine planting. The total area of machine planting in this crop is up to more than 2 thousand hectares, thereby significantly reducing the use of herbicides, reducing costs in production; contributing to solving seasonal labor pressure, minimizing the spread of weedy rice, improving rice productivity and quality.

In addition, the 2022-2023 winter-spring crop also recorded a significant increase in the area of high-quality organic specialty rice production with product consumption linked with companies and businesses. Thereby, gradually transforming production towards commodities, increasing income, improving the lives of farmers. This is the core of a successful crop because the current problem of the rice industry is no longer output but quality.

Learning from previous rice crops, at this time, localities in the province are encouraging people to take advantage of favorable weather conditions and apply mechanization to quickly harvest ripe rice areas according to the motto "green at home is better than ripe in the fields" to avoid damage caused by weather, pests and rats. At the same time, they are urgently preparing necessary conditions for the next crop.

Article and photos: Nguyen Luu

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