Identifying the cause of severe damage caused by stem borers on rice

In Bac Binh district, while most of the summer-autumn rice areas have been harvested, achieving the highest yield and selling price of dry rice ever, in the communes of Phan Hoa, Phan Ri Thanh, Phan Hiep, Hai Ninh, Phan Dien, there are about 245 hectares of rice in the ripening - harvesting stage showing signs of white rice (flat grains), causing losses for growers.

Localized and scattered pests

At this time, the summer-autumn rice crop in the province has been harvested by local farmers and sold at high prices. Recorded in Bac Binh district, in the summer-autumn crop of 2023, the whole district produced 12,705 hectares of rice, with varieties such as Dai Thom 8, ML 48, ML214, BDR57, ST24, ST25, NVP 79, An Sinh, OM 5451... Currently, the rice areas are in the ripening - harvesting stage. Accordingly, the harvested area is about more than 10,000 hectares of the total production area, reaching 83.67% of the production area. According to the assessment of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bac Binh district, in the harvested rice areas with the same sowing time according to the district's crop schedule, from April 20 to May 20, most of them had high yields, an average of 7 - 8.5 tons/ha (dry rice) and the dry rice purchase price fluctuated from 8,200 - 8,500 VND/kg, the highest ever.

However, according to Mr. Tran Anh Thinh - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bac Binh district, through the results of field inspection, some rice fields in the communes of Phan Hoa, Phan Ri Thanh, Phan Hiep, Hai Ninh, Phan Dien have rice fields about 80 - 85 days old with the phenomenon of white rice (flat grains). The damaged areas are localized, scattered, there are cases where adjacent fields are sown with the same variety, the same rice fields but one field is damaged by stem borers, the other field is not damaged by stem borers.

According to Mr. Thinh, the cause of the rice turning white is due to stem borers, with a common damage rate of 30-40%, with an area of about 230 hectares, with some areas having a damage rate of over 70%, an area of about 15 hectares. Stem borers cause damage to most rice varieties produced in the summer-autumn crop of 2023.

*Rice acreage planted on schedule for high yield.*

Identify the cause

According to the assessment of the professional inspection team in the field, the areas damaged by stem borers were mainly due to farmers' ineffective control of stem borers. The planting time was late compared to the crop schedule (sowing from May 20 onwards), which deviated from the sowing schedule to avoid pests as recommended by the district's agricultural sector. On the other hand, farmers used pesticides for prevention but did not comply with the "4 rights" principle in using pesticides. On the other hand, the People's Committees of communes and towns did not promptly inform the agricultural sector about warnings of harmful stem borers. Therefore, these rice areas damaged by stem borers are not eligible for support according to Decree No. 02/2017/ND-CP, dated January 9, 2017 of the Government on policies and mechanisms to support agricultural production to restore production in areas damaged by natural disasters and epidemics.

Currently, farmers in communes and towns in the area have entered the 2023 crop production season. Therefore, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bac Binh district said that the unit will closely monitor the weather and water resources to arrange the crop schedule suitable to the situation of each region and each locality. At the same time, it will guide farmers to prepare well the conditions of seeds and land, focus on recommending concentrated and simultaneous planting in each region and each field and must ensure the time interval between two crops (15 to 20 days) to limit pests and diseases that are harmful to rice sown outside the district's general crop schedule. At the same time, organize training and guidance on measures to prevent and control pests and diseases on crops (especially stem borers that damage rice). Strengthen the work of forecasting, predicting, announcing and guiding timely measures to prevent and control pests and diseases to limit the spread of pests and diseases on a large scale...

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