Handbook: Growing “smart” rice

1. Currently, farmers in the province are entering the peak harvest season of the winter-spring rice crop. People are excited because the price of rice is high (over 9,000 VND/kg), the highest ever.

In particular, farmers in Tuy Phong district, when producing Dai Thom 8 rice, have achieved high productivity and higher prices than other varieties, reaching VND10,000/kg recently. Notably, while rice prices are high and the market is good, in reality, rice growers earn very little profit compared to growing other crops.

According to farmer Uc Sinh Quan in Phan Thanh commune, Bac Binh district, his family grows 5 sao of winter-spring rice, with an estimated yield of about 2.5 tons. Winter-spring rice is often contaminated with rice and stem borers, causing reduced productivity and quality. Meanwhile, input costs such as fertilizers, pesticides, etc. are still high, so profits are not as expected.

Obviously, with the increasingly complex weather and climate conditions as it is today, wanting rice to have high productivity but with reasonable investment, lowest production costs and highest profits is an urgent issue for all farmers. In a workshop discussing solutions to link rice production to adapt to climate change held in Phan Thiet City recently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Thuan said that currently, over 75% of the province's population lives on agriculture. Of which, rice is the province's main crop, with the current area of actual rice production land reaching 53,580 hectares. Compared to the Southeast and South Central provinces, Binh Thuan's rice productivity is quite high, averaging 5.85 tons/ha. In particular, the winter-spring crop has the highest average yield, reaching 6.68 tons/ha, most notably Tanh Linh district has the highest average rice yield with 6.32 tons/ha, Bac Binh reaches 6.10 tons/ha, Ham Thuan Bac reaches 5.84 tons/ha...

2. Also at the above workshop, the Center for Tropical Agriculture Research and Consulting (Ho Chi Minh City) said that there have been many documents and training courses and seminars for farmers on rice cultivation techniques. However, in reality, many farmers still do not fully understand the scientific basis of these techniques. Therefore, the cost of rice production in Vietnam is still higher than in some other rice-growing countries due to high production costs, affecting both the profits of rice producers and the ecological and social environment. Especially in the period from 2021 onwards, our country will be severely affected by climate change such as drought, salinity, erosion and landslides. Accordingly, scientists have proposed some general principles of smart rice growing process such as using rice seeds and sowing methods (reducing seeds), reasonable fertilization, water-saving irrigation, integrated pest management, reducing post-harvest losses and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to protect the environment.

Regarding the provincial agricultural sector, according to the Agricultural Seed Center, from the actual production and the desire to achieve high efficiency, farmers need to use short-term rice varieties, less pests and diseases, less lodging, high yield as well as adapt to local weather and soil conditions, and be accepted by the market. This means that rice varieties must have all the dominant "gene" factors. This is a big challenge for those who do research on rice breeding. The work of selecting and creating new rice varieties is a long journey of perseverance, persistence and effort. Therefore, the work of breeding and selecting new rice varieties must be timely to gradually replace diseased and low-yielding rice varieties with high-yielding, stable rice varieties that are favored by people and the market. Currently, the Binh Thuan Agricultural Seed Center has bred and selected over 50 rice varieties for production. In particular, some rice varieties bred by the Provincial Agricultural Seed Center are popular in the market, such as TH6 and ML48.

Notably, implementing Resolution 05 dated September 10, 2021 of the Provincial Party Committee (term XIV) on developing modern, sustainable, high-value-added agriculture, the Provincial People's Committee has just issued a plan to develop high-quality commercial rice production areas in the province by 2025. In particular, one of the viewpoints and goals clearly states the synchronous application of technical advances in intensive rice cultivation, changing awareness and production techniques for farmers, creating a shift from old production methods to new production methods applying science and technology to adapt to climate change... Strive to stabilize the area of high-quality commercial rice production area by 2025 at 17,745 hectares, with a yield of over 6 tons/ha...

To achieve these results, rice growers, the agricultural sector and localities need to focus on techniques, innovate production and land organization forms, expand consumption markets, etc. This is also the "smart" way of growing rice that scientists have mentioned.

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