Farmers of Chat Binh commune go to the fields to sow spring rice.

Right in the first days of the Spring of Giap Thin 2024, taking advantage of favorable weather, farmers in Chat Binh commune (Kim Son district) have gathered in the fields to sow winter-spring rice. The bustling atmosphere of work throughout the fields promises to bring another bumper crop to the farmers here.

In the fields of hamlet 9, although it was almost 11am, farmers were still diligently planting rice. Hearing our greeting, Mr. Tran Van Tho stopped planting. When asked about the situation of the winter-spring rice planting, Mr. Tho excitedly said: This season, my family planted more than 1 acre of rice fields. In the days after Tet, the weather was very favorable, so my whole family took advantage of the opportunity to plant rice in time according to the announcement of the cooperative.

To ensure the crop schedule, Mr. Tho's family proactively prepared the land, seeds, fertilizers, and biological pesticides before the New Year. As one of the households registered to grow ST25 rice in an organic manner, his family pays special attention to land preparation to minimize weeds, rats, golden apple snails, and rice diseases...

"This is the 6th crop my family has planted ST25 rice. In the previous crop, with 1 acre of rice field, my family harvested 26 quintals of rice. After selling to traders who came to buy at the field, my family earned more than 15 million VND. The advantage of ST25 rice variety is that it is easy to care for, quite suitable for the soil quality of the commune, so the rice grows and develops well. On the other hand, we cultivate organically, so the quality of the rice is guaranteed, consumption is easy, so the economic efficiency is twice as high as when planting Bac Thom rice variety No. 7 before," Mr. Tho added.

Farmers of Chat Binh commune go to the fields to sow spring rice. — Taking advantage of favorable weather, farmers in Chat Binh commune focused on planting spring rice to ensure the best crop.

Currently, farmers in Chat Binh commune mainly use the traditional method of rice planting, with very few households using broadcast sowing. In addition, to increase the speed and efficiency of rice planting, agricultural cooperatives have also boldly invested in and purchased rice transplanters to serve agricultural production.

Mr. Hoang Ngoc May, Director of Cong Thanh Agricultural Cooperative, said: The type of transplanter we use is the Van Lang transplanter. This is one of the machines that the Cooperative is supported with according to Resolution 38/NQ-HDND dated March 31, 2022 of the People's Council of Kim Son district on approving the Project on agricultural economic development of Kim Son district for the period 2022-2025.

The advantage of Van Lang rice transplanter is that it is small and compact, so it is quite convenient. The transplanting capacity is about 2 hectares/day, equivalent to 6-7 manual transplanters. Therefore, the progress of winter-spring rice planting of the Cooperative is guaranteed. By the end of February 21, 2024, the Cooperative has planted 120 hectares/153 hectares of managed area.

In recent years, Chat Binh commune has been a "bright spot" of Kim Son district in rice cultivation; starting from the successful testing and expansion of the ST25 rice variety, to the application of organic rice cultivation methods today. Thanks to that, the economic efficiency of rice cultivation has been improved, limiting the abandonment of agricultural land.

Comrade Nguyen Canh Duong, Vice Chairman of Chat Binh Commune People's Committee, said: In this year's winter-spring crop, the whole commune planted 337 hectares of rice. With the structure of high-quality rice varieties accounting for 95%, of which the main variety is ST25 rice, the rest are Bac Thom No. 7, LT2; only a small part of the area is planted with Mixed rice varieties for livestock farming.

To prepare well for this year's winter-spring crop, in December 2023, the Commune People's Committee directed two agricultural cooperatives, Cong Thanh and Hop Thanh, to mobilize human resources and machinery to plow and harrow 100% of the rice growing area; to get enough water for production and planting. At the same time, a survey was conducted on people's demand for seed source registration, and directly contacted the Soc Trang Seed Center to ensure timely supply of more than 9 tons of ST25 rice seeds with "Confirmation 1" standards for farmers.

During the sowing period (from January 12 to January 18, 2024), the weather was quite unfavorable with severe cold spells. The People's Committee of the commune and cooperatives directed and guided farmers to implement measures to prevent cold and enhance care to ensure the quality of the seedlings.

After the Tet holiday, the commune continued to urge cooperatives and production teams to urgently sow winter-spring rice. Starting from February 15, 2024, farmers went to the fields to sow rice. By the end of February 21, 2024, the whole commune had sown 80% of the area, striving to complete winter-spring rice sowing before February 24, 2024 to shift the focus to rice care and protection.

Article and photos: Thai Hoc

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