In recent years, winter crop production has often encountered unfavorable weather conditions, affecting people's psychology in investing in intensive farming and expanding acreage. Therefore, this year, the Department of Agriculture has oriented localities to produce winter crops in a "safe" direction, with a reasonable scale, linking production with product consumption on the basis of maximizing the potential and advantages of agricultural ecological sub-regions.
Forecast will have many advantages
Unlike the 2022 Winter-Spring crop - the production crop encountered many difficulties due to the late harvest of Summer-Spring rice causing a shortage of land for production, and heavy rains at the beginning of the season causing flooding and damage to many newly planted areas, the 2023 Winter-Spring crop is forecasted to be more favorable.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, Deputy Head of the Provincial Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, said:
Firstly, the 2023 Early Season rice crop area meets the set plan, which means that localities will have abundant land for arranging winter crop production on double-rice land.
Second, this year, winter temperatures are forecast to be warmer than the average of many years, so the whole province has more conditions to expand the area of warm-weather crops.
Third, fertilizer prices have cut the "fever" and the market signal for winter crop products is also considered to be very positive, especially products such as chili, sweet corn, soybeans, etc.
In addition, currently, support policies from Resolution 32/2022/NQ-HDND dated July 15, 2022 of the Provincial People's Council are the driving force to encourage cooperatives and people to invest in purchasing machinery, gradually mechanizing many stages in production, helping to reduce labor pressure and reduce production costs. In particular, trade promotion and market development activities in recent times have been strongly and effectively implemented by all levels and sectors, attracting many companies and enterprises inside and outside the province to continue to link up to form many concentrated production areas.
In addition to the above advantages, according to the Department of Agriculture, winter crop production still faces some inherent difficulties for many years such as: complicated weather, especially heavy rains at the beginning of the season, causing flooding, significantly affecting people's psychology in investing in intensive farming and expanding acreage. Besides, there is the problem of labor shortage. In particular, the province does not have many facilities for processing and preserving products, the number of enterprises associated with production and consumption of products is still limited.
Focus on processing plants
In the 2023 Winter-Spring crop, the whole province aims to plant 7,800 hectares of various crops, with productivity, output, and value equivalent to or higher than that of the 2022 Winter-Spring crop. To achieve the set plan, the Department of Agriculture recommends that localities base on the harvested area of Autumn rice to proactively develop a sowing plan, making the most of the area for planting Winter-Spring crops. Organize inspection, repair, and dredging of canals, clear the flow, ensure good drainage, and overcome the situation of Winter-Spring crops being flooded when encountering heavy rain. In addition, calculate and arrange a reasonable ratio between the group of warm-loving plants and the group of cold-loving plants, diversify different groups of plants, and plant vegetables in separate seasons to reduce pressure on consumption. In particular, it is necessary to expand the area of target groups for processing, with good and stable consumption markets such as: sweet corn, vegetable soybeans, chili, squash, processed potatoes, medicinal plants, etc.
In fact, many agricultural processing companies located in the province wish to expand their raw material areas. Mr. Du Van Hoan, representative of Dong Giao Food Export Joint Stock Company, said: Currently, the company is cooperating with 5 cooperatives in Yen Mo to produce vegetable soybeans, but the area is still quite modest. Therefore, in the coming winter crop, we propose that localities continue to create conditions for expanding the area, especially in Yen Mo and Yen Khanh districts. In addition to vegetable soybeans, there are sweet corn and spinach. The company commits to consuming 100% of the products at a price not lower than the signed contract price.
Similar to Dong Giao Food Export Joint Stock Company, Mr. Nguyen Hung Vinh - representative of Thanh An Company Limited (Tam Diep city), shared: In the past, the company had to find raw materials in Thanh Hoa, Bac Giang, Nghe An provinces..., which are quite far away, so it encountered many difficulties. If production can be promoted in the province, it would be very good. I really hope that the locality has policies to encourage farmers to lend land, rent land to cooperate, invest in production in concentrated areas, thereby introducing mechanization to reduce costs, increase productivity, quality, and production efficiency.
On the side of the professional agency, Mr. Bui Huu Ngoc, Director of the Provincial Agricultural Extension Center informed: The unit is selecting a number of suitable technical advances to recommend people to apply in the upcoming Winter crop of 2023. Specifically: Cultivation in greenhouses, domes, using agricultural films, safe vegetable, root and fruit production processes in the direction of good agricultural practices; planting techniques using straw and plastic covering methods to limit pests, weeds, and keep the soil moist. In addition, introducing new varieties of good quality to gradually replace old varieties. Although the Winter crop is almost the most difficult crop of the year, the economic value and ensuring food security of this crop is very important.
Looking back at the 2022 Winter crop, both area and output decreased compared to 2021, but the total production value still reached more than 996 billion VND, the average production value per hectare reached 127 million VND. Therefore, the specialized sector as well as localities are actively participating in directing and operating promptly and synchronously to ensure the proposed production plan. In the immediate future, focus on quickly harvesting rice and crops from the Summer-Autumn crop, freeing up land early to deploy Winter-Autumn crop production in time. Strive to finish planting warm-loving crops before October 5, and focus on sowing cold-loving crops from October 15 to November 25.
Article and photos: Nguyen Luu
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