Unique plating market in Nghe An

The demand of people to buy seedlings to replant dead rice fields or damaged by snails has increased. Therefore, for many years now, people of Thanh Duong commune (Thanh Chuong) have had a service to sell young seedlings to households in need.

Despite many attempts to eradicate them, many rice fields are still seriously damaged by golden apple snails. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Loc's family (Thanh Duong commune, Thanh Chuong district) cultivates 3 sao of rice fields, completing the planting after Tet. Now the rice is green. However, golden apple snails appear densely in the rice fields, biting and destroying the young rice, leaving only the roots of the rice plants.

“There has never been a rice crop where golden apple snails have appeared as much as this one. 80% of the fields have been damaged by snails, and we can’t catch and kill them… Now we have to find and buy seedlings to replant, what else can we do?” said Ms. Loc.

Thanh Khai commune residents re-prune rice. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Working on 7 sao of rice fields, even though she uses lights to catch snails day and night, and sprays pesticides, currently more than half of Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan's rice field (Thanh Khai, Thanh Chuong) is damaged by golden apple snails up to 90%. Although she has tried every way: pulling up thick seedlings and replanting them in areas damaged by snails; asking for seedlings from her brothers to replant, she is still very short of rice. "Now I have to go buy seedlings to replant the areas that snails have damaged. Roughly, it costs millions of dong," Ms. Xuan said.

Households that sow rice too thickly have to thin out the rice. Photo: Thanh Phuc

“My family has 6 sao of rice fields. We sowed and planted them all. Now, the rice has turned green and is ready for fertilization, but because the seeds were not spread evenly, many areas are too thick and now we have to thin them out. Therefore, I hired 3 people to thin the rice with a salary of 300,000 VND/person/day.

I bring the pruned seedlings to the market to sell. The price of each bundle of seedlings ranges from 15,000 to 25,000 VND/bundle (depending on the rice variety and the firmness of the seedlings). Roughly, the pruned seedlings from 6 sao of rice fields can be sold for about 1 million VND, enough to pay for someone to prun them," said Mr. Nguyen Trong Tue, Truong Linh hamlet, Xuan Tuong commune (Thanh Chuong).

Excess rice seedlings are brought to the market to sell. Photo: Thanh Phuc

After pruning and replanting her family's rice field, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lieu (Duong Nam hamlet, Thanh Duong commune) brought 20 bundles of seedlings to the market to sell. The rice was purebred and the seedlings were small, so she sold them for 10,000 VND/bundle. In just 10 minutes, she sold all the seedlings. "This year, there were many snails biting and destroying the rice, so people's demand for replanting the rice was very high. Therefore, people with extra seedlings brought them here to sell."

Previously, the surplus seedlings after transplanting or pruning were given to those in need or cut off at the base to feed buffalo and cows, and there was no buying or selling. In recent years, as the demand for seedlings for pruning increased, a seedling market was formed.

Each bundle of seedlings is sold for 10,000 - 25,000 VND/bundle, depending on the variety and firmness of the seedlings. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The rice seedling market of the people in the Con market area (Thanh Chuong) is completely spontaneous, those who have excess rice seedlings bring them to sell, those who lack rice seedlings come to buy. The price of rice seedlings is also agreed upon by the buyers and sellers, depending on the rice variety and the firmness of the seedlings, the price will be high or low. "Rice plants have seasons, rice seedlings have ages", so the rice seedling market only meets about ten times and then disbands.

Thanks to the seedling market, rice plants that died due to weather, golden apple snails, or lack of water were replanted and not abandoned.