Rice flowers with empty grains - A lesson in not following the crop calendar

(Baonghean) -Recently, many rice fields in our province have flowered right in the cold season, the rice could not dry the buds, so there was a phenomenon of empty grains, affecting the spring rice yield. The reason for the rice fields blooming in the cold season is that the localities did not strictly follow the crop calendar.

Ms. Cao Suong in Hamlet 8 - Dien Thai - Dien Chau sadly looked at the rice fields with fluttering flowers, sadly: My family grew 5 sao of rice, mainly Nhi Uu 986 and Khang Dan varieties. All the rice fields bloomed right at the cold season, the rice flowers were all blackened, which the locals called "fly bruises". According to Ms. Suong, last spring's average yield was 3.5 quintals/sao, now the rice with empty grains is estimated to be less than 2 quintals/sao, which means each sao will lose over 150 kg of rice. Ms. Cao Trieu (also in Hamlet 8, Dien Thai) lamented: Both sao of Nhi Uu 986 rice seeds just sprouted and encountered the cold, so they were blackened and spotted. All the effort and money invested in fertilizer for the rice were lost. Did you sow and plant according to the crop schedule? - I asked. Ms. Trieu said: My family planted the seedlings about 10 days earlier than the commune's crop schedule.

Rice fields in Quynh Van commune - Quynh Luu that bloomed during the cold season had empty grains.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Bang - Chairman of Dien Thai Agricultural Service Cooperative affirmed: The whole commune has 374 hectares of rice, absolutely no area of ​​rice blooming during the cold season! When asked which rice varieties the commune planted and when the rice fields were planted according to the crop calendar, Mr. Bang mumbled and misread all the names of the rice varieties and did not remember the seedling and planting schedule and told us to go see the commune chairman to ask. Mr. Nguyen Van Trong - Chairman of Dien Thai Commune People's Committee boasted to the reporter: "The commune is very determined, directing people to sow and plant according to the crop calendar, recently the District Party Committee Secretary came to inspect the agricultural situation, everything is fine". When we raised the issue of many rice fields in Dien Thai being black and empty, Mr. Trong admitted that the area of ​​rice blooming during the cold season accounted for about 20-30% because people planted 10 days earlier than the calendar of Dien Chau district. However, according to many people in Dien Thai, the calendar was nearly 20 days different.

In Dien Dong commune, there are also many rice fields that bloom in the cold. Mr. Thuong in hamlet 2, Dien Dong said: At the beginning of the season, we saw the warm weather so we planted rice, but unexpectedly, the rice bloomed in 5 sao in the cold season, this crop will have a bad harvest. Mr. Tang Hung - Chairman of Dien Dong Commune People's Committee said: Dien Dong has 320 hectares of spring rice, but the area that blooms in the cold season is only about 15%. While many people affirm that nearly 40% of the rice area blooms in the cold season. Mr. Tang Hung also admitted that people planted rice seedlings more than 10 days earlier than the district's schedule. Mr. Vinh - Head of Dien Chau Agriculture Department said: The whole district has 9,100 hectares of spring rice, of which nearly 1,000 hectares bloom in the cold season. Most of the above areas are due to people not following the crop calendar. The current solution is very difficult because the rice has bloomed and the grains are squishy, ​​and the spring crop yield is inevitable to decrease.

In Yen Thanh, many rice fields are suffering from empty grains and losing the spring crop. Ms. Thai Thi Thuy in Hamlet 9 Xuan Thanh - Yen Thanh is visiting the rice fields in Trung Lai, saying: 3 sao of rice bloomed right in the cold season, we have deployed spraying to restore but it seems not optimistic. Mr. Le Van Hai - Chairman of Xuan Thanh Commune People's Committee honestly said: This spring crop, Xuan Thanh planted 398 hectares, of which the area blooming during the cold season accounts for over 80%, this crop will affect the yield. The commune has directed the hamlets to focus on spraying stimulants to save the rice. Mr. Dao Ngoc Hung - Acting Head of Yen Thanh District Agriculture Department said: Yen Thanh has 13,200 hectares of spring rice, about 2,000 hectares blooming during the cold season. The district has strongly directed the crop calendar, however, some commune officials do not pay close attention to and direct, leading to the situation where people in many localities sow freely and plant 10-12 days earlier than the prescribed crop calendar.

Mr. Tu Trong Kim - Head of the Department of Crop Production - Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: The whole province planted spring crops on over 88,000 hectares, of which the area of ​​flowering during the cold season is estimated at over 10,000 hectares. The lost area is due to localities not strictly following the crop calendar, mainly in Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Do Luong districts... The problem is that many types of long-term and short-term rice varieties are sown and planted at the same time, so many times the short-term varieties often flower during the cold season. Rice flowers in the cold season, low temperature, poor pollination ability, especially the rice cannot dry the buds, so the phenomenon of empty grains occurs. To overcome this situation, many localities have sprayed some stimulants to prevent empty grains. However, it is inevitable that rice productivity will decrease.

Agricultural production that does not comply with the crop calendar is prone to obvious damage. Localities need to strengthen supervision and production direction to avoid the situation of “everyone doing their own thing”. At the same time, it is necessary to clarify the responsibilities of relevant officials from the hamlet, commune, district and provincial levels who do not closely follow and direct planting according to the crop calendar.

Article and photos: Van Truong