Changing the mindset of rice production

In agricultural production in Thai Binh, rice plays a key role. For many years, the province has maintained a stable rice output of over 1 million tons/year, with a yield of 13 tons/ha/year. When rice yield peaked, the mindset of managers and rice growers changed, focusing more on product quality to meet market demand.

The organic rice production model associated with product consumption linkage in Thuy Thanh commune (Thai Thuy) has an expected yield of 59 quintals/ha.

Organic farming is a form of agricultural cultivation that avoids or eliminates most of the use of fertilizers, chemical pesticides, and plant growth regulators. Organic farming is the solution towards clean agricultural production, while improving the efficiency and value of agricultural production.

The project to build and develop the rice brand of Thai Binh province in the period of 2021 - 2025 and orientation to 2030, strives for the area of high-quality rice meeting organic standards to be 500 hectares. However, currently, Thai Binh has only more than 200 hectares of organic rice production, mainly in areas of raising earthworms and clams, but these products have not been certified by competent authorities to meet organic product standards, and have not yet built specialized areas for organic rice production according to the process. With the desire to successfully build an organic rice production model, thereby spreading and changing the mindset of agricultural production, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has implemented two organic rice production models associated with linking product consumption in Thuy Thanh commune (Thai Thuy) with an area of 11 hectares and Song Lang commune (Vu Thu) with an area of 10 hectares.

As a household participating in the model, Mr. Nguyen Cong Toi, Vo Hoi Dong village, Thuy Thanh commune is currently accumulating 40 hectares. Mr. Toi said: Currently, people's rice consumption trends are changing in the direction of not only delicious but also needing better quality, ensuring health safety. Therefore, farmers also have to change their production methods to meet market demand. With the support of the Commune People's Committee in the planning of concentrated areas, in the spring crop of 2021, I switched from traditional production to applying organic measures. However, because I was learning and practicing at the same time, the process was not standardized. In the spring crop of 2022, with the support of the agricultural sector, I implemented an organic rice planting model on an area of 11 hectares, the planting process and techniques were carried out methodically. Through 3 production crops, I saw that the soil and water environment was clearly improved. The soil is more porous, and animals and plants such as seaweed, algae, crabs, and fish appear more. The rice plants grow well, have beautiful leaves, are less susceptible to pests and diseases; the quality of the rice is delicious, with a stronger flavor than rice of the same variety grown using traditional methods. In the long term, organic production will bring many health benefits to producers and consumers and contribute to environmental protection.

Mr. Tran Quoc Duong, Deputy Head of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, said: All models use machine-transplanted tray seedlings; 100% organic biological fertilizers. Regarding pest prevention and control, we instruct households to implement integrated pest management measures on a large scale; apply integrated pest prevention and control measures, and clean the fields to avoid spreading pests from the previous crop to the next crop. When spraying pesticides to prevent and control pests, use biological pesticides that are selective and highly effective, decompose quickly, and leave little residue in the environment and agricultural products. In practice, in 2022 and the spring crop of 2023, the model has moved the crop calendar up 10 days earlier than previous years and 5-7 days earlier than farmers' fields. However, organic rice production also faces many difficulties, causing the area to not expand much. In the process of organic farming, producers are only allowed to use organic fertilizers, prevent and control weeds and pests by manual methods or biological drugs, which requires a lot of labor and is difficult to implement on a large scale, especially in our country where the hot and humid climate is very favorable for many pests to develop and cause harm. In highly intensive farming areas, previously using a lot of chemical fertilizers and plant protection chemicals, when converting to organic production in the first years, productivity decreased significantly and there were difficulties in preventing and controlling pests and diseases due to high pest pressure, the previously broken ecological balance needed time to re-establish. Organic fertilizers and biological products have a slower effect than chemical fertilizers and plant protection chemicals, so the source of mineral nutrients provided to crops in the early stages is very slow and incomplete. Due to low productivity and high labor, the cost of organic products is higher than conventional production...

Mr. Mai Thanh Giang, Head of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, said: In the 2023 crop season, the Department will continue to deploy the model in the districts to gradually change farmers' awareness and farming practices, shifting from production using chemical fertilizers and pesticides to using organic fertilizers and biological pesticides that are beneficial to the environment, contributing to the development of green, clean, safe and sustainable organic agricultural production.