Sowing - should or shouldn't?

(Baonghean) - Because this year's spring rice crop was harvested 20-25 days later than normal years, the summer-autumn rice crop had to be planted 10-15 days later than the agricultural sector's schedule. Given this reality, before this year's summer-autumn rice crop, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development advocated not sowing rice directly but focusing on sowing rice seedlings for transplanting in order to push the growth period of the rice plant forward by at least 10-15 days or more so that the harvest can be basically completed before September 10.

Currently, the summer-autumn rice in the fields from Quynh Luu to Dien Chau, up to Yen Thanh, to Do Luong, to Thanh Chuong, down to Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen and Nghi Loc, shows that: In the 3 districts of Dien - Yen - Quynh, many places farmers have gone to the fields to harvest rice. In Yen Thanh district, this year's summer-autumn rice crop has been planted on over 13,000 hectares, the rice has ripened, farmers in Long Thanh, Bao Thanh, Vinh Thanh, Khanh Thanh, Hong Thanh, Tho Thanh, Do Thanh, Nhan Thanh communes, ... have gone to the fields to harvest the summer-autumn rice 2-3 days ago. It is likely that the whole district will basically finish harvesting this summer-autumn rice crop before September 10. The summer-autumn rice yield is expected to reach an average of 52 - 53 quintals/ha.

In Dien Chau district, this summer-autumn crop, 9,200 hectares of rice were planted. Now the rice has entered the harvest stage. In some communes that planted rice earlier such as Dien Dong, Dien Nguyen, Dien Thai, Dien Lien,... farmers have been in the fields harvesting rice for a few days now.

According to Mr. Phan Xuan Vinh - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dien Chau district, the yield of this year's summer-autumn rice crop in the whole district is likely to reach an average of 55-56 quintals/ha. In Quynh Luu as well as the two districts mentioned above, the rice has entered the ripening stage simultaneously. However, the difference in Quynh Luu is that the structure of many BC15 rice varieties has a long growing period, so the harvest is 5-7 days later than in Dien Chau and Yen Thanh districts.
Meanwhile, in the districts of Nam - Hung - Nghi, Vinh city and some localities in Thanh Chuong district, the summer-autumn rice is in the stage of just finishing flowering, and in many places the rice has not yet flowered. Compared to previous summer-autumn crops, this year's summer-autumn rice crop in the above districts must be harvested about 20 days later and most of it will be harvested from the end of mid-September onwards. This is the time of heavy rain, floods, and storms that often occur in our province, which can easily cause crop failure for this rice crop.

Why is it that in the same summer-autumn rice crop, the structure of rice varieties planted is almost the same, but in some places the rice has been harvested and is being harvested, in other places the rice has just finished blooming or is blooming. To understand this issue, from the beginning, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has advocated not to sow directly (seeding) this summer-autumn rice crop because the spring rice harvest is about 20 days later than normal years, even in some localities it is nearly 1 month late. Therefore, only sowing seedlings should be done to push the growth time of the varieties from 15-18 days through the seedling stage. But this policy is not implemented by farmers in the districts of Nam - Hung - Nghi, Vinh City and some other localities, they only apply the method of sowing directly. When we asked many farmers in the above districts why they did not sow seedlings to plant in order to harvest earlier to prevent heavy rains, floods, and storms from causing crop failure. The answers are almost the same: Direct sowing is simple, light, and quick. As for sowing seedlings, it takes a lot of time to dig them up and transplant them, so no one wants to sow seedlings to transplant them.

Now the answer to the question of whether or not to sow rice in the summer-autumn crop this year is clear. On one side, the rice has already entered the barn, on the other side, the rice is in the process of blooming or has just finished blooming. Which side is more secure in the conditions of the weather, the rainy season, floods and storms. This responsibility should not be entirely blamed on the people, including the role of local leaders from district to commune.

Doan Tri Tue