Nghe An Provincial Farmers' Association evaluates environmentally friendly rice farming model

On May 20, the Provincial Farmers' Association organized a field conference on environmentally friendly rice farming models in Thanh Chuong and Hung Nguyen districts.

Implementing the Project "Propaganda and mobilizing farmers to apply environmentally friendly rice cultivation" (abbreviated as SRI) organized by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union and implemented in Nghe An province, for a period of 2 years (2021-2023); The Provincial Farmers' Union coordinated with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to conduct a survey and select locations to implement the project in 4 communes of Thanh Khai, Thanh Tien (Thanh Chuong), Long Xa, Xuan Lam (Hung Nguyen).

Leaders of the Provincial Farmers' Association inspected the environmentally friendly rice farming model in Hung Nguyen district. Photo: Contributor

During the project implementation, the Provincial Farmers' Association Standing Committee directed the Farmers' Associations of Thanh Chuong and Hung Nguyen districts to propagate and disseminate the project's purpose and significance to raise awareness among officials and farmer members about the effectiveness of environmentally friendly rice cultivation methods.

The Provincial Farmers' Association organized training sessions on environmentally friendly rice cultivation for 20 core farming households participating in the project and 10 other farming households in the project implementation area; at the same time, instructed households participating in the conference on how to care for and prevent pests and diseases.

Checking the environmentally friendly rice farming model in Thanh Khai commune (Thanh Chuong). Photo: Contributor

In the spring crop of 2022, the Provincial Farmers' Association directed the construction of 4 demonstration models of environmentally friendly rice cultivation in Thanh Khai, Thanh Tien (Thanh Chuong), Long Xa, Xuan Lam (Hung Nguyen) communes, 1 model for each commune, with a scale of 1,000 m2/model.

The model applies farming measures such as: Transplanting young seedlings, healthy seedlings, sparse planting, single-crop planting; limiting the use of inorganic fertilizers (specifically reducing nitrogen fertilizers), adding organic fertilizers to create soil fertility; regulating water in the fields, draining water to create ventilation for the soil.

Checking the environmentally friendly rice cultivation model in Thanh Khai commune (Thanh Chuong). Photo: Contributor

People of Thanh Khai commune (Thanh Chuong) check rice fields before harvesting. Photo: Contributor

After the implementation period up to now, through monitoring and evaluating the indicators, it is initially confirmed that: Rice plants grow and develop well, have strong tillering ability, good resistance to pests and diseases, larger flowers, effective number of tillers reaching 9/clump, number of solid grains per flower reaching 200 grains, accounting for 90%, yield reaching 3.5 quintals/sao, higher than the control field by 50 kg/sao.

Production costs reduced: Seeds reduced by 60% (only using 1 kg of seeds/sao), fertilizer reduced by 3 kg of nitrogen/sao, reduced use of pesticides; economic efficiency 28% higher than the control field.

With the effectiveness of the pilot model from the improved SRI rice cultivation method, it is expected that farmers will widely replicate it on suitable fields, contributing to protecting the ecological environment and ensuring local food security.