Abandonment of summer-autumn crop fields tends to increase in Nghe An
(Baonghean.vn) - This year, the situation of Nghe An farmers abandoning their summer-autumn crop fields has tended to increase. Some areas that used to be "fertile fields" have now been left fallow for 7 consecutive months, causing a waste of resources.
Current situation
People storyfarmers abandon fieldsThere are many reasons for the summer-autumn crop, but the key point is that farming brings in too little income, and in some places, due to natural conditions, it is unstable and even makes a loss. Basically, people abandon their fields not because they are bored with their job, but because their job does not meet their needs, even if they are still modest.
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| The fields stretching as far as the eye can see in Yen Thanh district are left fallow this summer-autumn crop. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
In the districts known as the "rice granary" ofNghe Ansuch as: Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Quynh Luu... not only the fields in the semi-mountainous areas with difficult irrigation conditions, or the deep-lying areas that are often flooded; but also the rice fields, which have proactive irrigation water but people still leave fallow, not producing in the summer-autumn crop. Almost every year, people only produce one spring rice crop to have enough food for the whole year.
In Quynh Luu district, on this occasion, going to the communes of Quynh Giang, Quynh Hung, Quynh Ba, Quynh Ngoc, Quynh Lam, Ngoc Son... witnessed many fields not being able to implement intercrop production.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu district, in recent years, each year the entire district has had nearly 700 hectares of summer-autumn rice land abandoned, including areas in communes with favorable irrigation conditions.
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| The reality in many places is that houses are abandoned, there are difficulties in protection and irrigation, and the consequence is the presence of pests and diseases. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
In Yen Thanh district, the situation of abandoned fields in the summer-autumn crop is not uncommon. Mr. Cung Dinh Chinh in Dong Ban hamlet, Lang Thanh commune said: Farming is now easy, almost 100% of the steps from land preparation to harvesting are done by renting machinery, so even if the wife and children work far away, they can still do it alone at home. However, calculations show that because labor and fertilizer costs have increased, while summer-autumn production has low productivity, farming will not be profitable, even at a loss.
Producing 1 sao of summer-autumn rice, the cost of hiring labor to plow, plant, materials, seeds, pesticides, etc. costs about 1.3 million VND. If the best conditions are met, 2.5 quintals of rice per sao will be harvested. With the current market price of nearly 700,000 VND/quintal, the revenue is only 1.7 million VND, leaving a profit of 400,000 VND. However, if there is a risk due to natural disasters, pests, etc. affecting productivity, there will be a loss of capital. Therefore, the family has 5 sao of land right in front of the house, quite convenient for planting 2 crops per year, but considering leaving the summer-autumn crop next year, it has been abandoned.
Not only Dong Ban field, but many fields next to Vach Bac canal and below Dao river of Lang Thanh commune are also abandoned. Mr. Nguyen Ho Son - Chairman of Lang Thanh commune People's Committee said that the whole commune has more than 100 hectares of land abandoned in this summer-autumn crop, although before the planting season, the locality focused on propaganda and mobilizing people to farm, but people still did not do it.
The largest area of abandoned land in Yen Thanh is Do Thanh commune. The whole commune has 538 hectares of rice land, but this summer-autumn crop, only 90 hectares were planted, leaving 448 hectares abandoned.
Mr. Luyen Xuan Hue - Chairman of the People's Committee of Do Thanh commune, said: The situation of farmers in the commune abandoning the summer-autumn crop has been happening for many years and this year is the most.
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| The high price of fertilizer is the main reason why farmers are not interested in summer-autumn rice production. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
Knowing that leaving fields fallow is a waste, but because the summer-autumn crop is risky, while people in the commune have many jobs to earn money every day, people give up seasonal production.
In some communes on the outskirts of Vinh city and Hung Nguyen district, the situation is similar when most farmers only produce spring crops, leaving summer-autumn and even winter crops fallow.
Mr. Duong Van Tham - Vice Chairman of Hung Hoa Commune People's Committee (Vinh City) shared: The whole commune has about 900 hectares of agricultural land but nearly half of it has been reclaimed. In addition to nearly 200 hectares of land previously reclaimed for regulating lakes and roads, from 2021 onwards, Vinh City continues to reclaim 182.8 hectares to serve investment projects. It is worth mentioning that of the remaining 400 hectares of rice, people almost only grow spring crops, while nearly 100% of the summer-autumn crop area is left fallow.
Nghe An has 84,000 hectares of land producing two rice crops per year. According to data from the provincial Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection,summer-autumn cropThis year, the whole province only planted 60,850 hectares. For example, in Yen Thanh district, there are 12,000 hectares that can be planted in the summer-autumn crop, but this summer-autumn crop, the district plans to plant 11,500 hectares, the remaining 500 hectares are in low-lying areas, the district does not encourage planting. Thus, this summer-autumn crop in Yen Thanh has about 1,000 hectares left fallow. Other districts such as Dien Chau only produced 6,000 hectares/plan 8,000 hectares; Quynh Luu produced 5,754 hectares/plan 6,700 hectares...
With the above reality, the question is what should the agricultural sector and authorities at all levels do to get farmers back to their fields?
What solution?
Preliminary statistics show that in the summer-autumn crop of 2022, the whole province has thousands of hectares of land left uncultivated. The increasing number of farmers abandoning their fields and "interrupting crop seasons" requires functional sectors and localities at all levels to consider, propose solutions and take action to overcome this situation.
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| In many places in Hung Dao commune (Hung Nguyen), farmers take advantage of long periods of abandoned fields to raise ducks. Photo: Van Hai |
Besides, most farmers believe that the most essential solution isAgricultural Service Cooperativeneed to play its role well, to provide input services to farmers and link with businesses to consume product output.
Another problem is that the fields are still fragmented and not diversified in crops, so the solution to close the summer-autumn crop is to continue to consolidate fields and exchange plots, thereby converting the crop structure according to each region appropriately, creating concentrated goods and not necessarily having to grow rice, to facilitate linkage with businesses that consume products.
In fact, there are some agricultural service cooperatives that do a good job in providing services, creating trust with farmers. For example, Tho Thanh Agricultural Service Cooperative (Yen Thanh) always puts the common interest first, so its activities are in-depth and are trusted by farmers.
“The important thing is that the cooperative plays its role well and puts farmers first. When people see real profits from rice production, they will return to the fields,” said Mr. Ho Sy Quang.
Mr. Ho Sy Quang - Director of the Cooperative said: Faced with the situation of farmers abandoning the summer-autumn crop, the cooperative mobilized people to create conditions for some households to take on the work, resulting in 100 hectares of summer-autumn crop cultivation in the form of cooperation with enterprises. To do that, the cooperative cooperated with Khang Long Rice Limited Company (Thai Binh) to accompany the farmers by purchasing all fresh rice in the fields for the farmers. During the production process, the cooperative provides services such as: Soil preparation for planting with tray seedlings, plant protection... to harvesting at a minimum price, thus reducing costs for the farmers.
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Currently, most rice cultivation is done by manual labor, which is costly, so it is necessary to increase mechanization in the tray planting stage to reduce input costs. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
An expert in the field of agriculture, Mr. Doan Tri Tue, said that in the context of high input prices as present, there are three fundamental solutions needed for farmers to return to the fields: First, there needs to be a production link between enterprises and farmers, possibly producing high-quality rice seeds and commercial rice to solve the problem of stable and long-term output. Second, it is time for Nghe An not to chase productivity and output, because low-quality rice is difficult to sell and has low selling prices, leading to losses for farmers. Instead, it is necessary to focus on producing high-quality rice varieties: TS25, TS24, Huong Thom, Bac Thom... which are popular with consumers and have high selling prices on the market. Third, in the context of high prices of materials, seeds... as present, the State needs to have a support mechanism for farmers to encourage and motivate them to stay in the fields.
In an interview with our reporter about building links to develop sustainable agriculture, Mr. Nguyen Van De - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development once shared: For agriculture to develop sustainably and for farmers to make a profit from farming, it is necessary to strengthen links, accordingly, farmers will lease land to businesses to enter large-scale production, in which farmers will contribute assets such as land use rights, and at the same time be laborers forbusiness, cooperatives; businesses providing materials, fertilizers and technical support, linking to ensure product output.
In addition, a solution that the province, sectors and people are interested in is the application of high technology in agricultural production. Up to now, the total area of high-tech agricultural cultivation has reached nearly 25,000 hectares, accounting for nearly 9% of the province's agricultural land area; the province has 26 enterprises.high technology applicationsin production. However, for these models to develop sustainably, the key is to strengthen linkages and accumulate land, in which farmers contribute capital with land use rights or lease land to businesses and households with conditions for production.
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| In recent years, many businesses have cooperated with farmers to produce medicinal plants.In the picture:Pu Mat Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company cooperates with many households in the region to produce medicinal plants with high efficiency. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
