Mountainous areas actively cultivate crops

(Baonghean) - Prolonged drought has caused many mountainous districts to delay the planting of summer-autumn rice. With the motto "better late than never", right after heavy rains, localities have directed farmers to focus on land preparation, combined with proactive measures to ensure irrigation water sources in the face of unusual weather developments.

Build dikes to retain water

This season, Que Phong district strives to plant 2,200 hectares of wet rice, 330 hectares of upland rice and 150 hectares of corn. According to Mr. Lu Van Tien - Head of the district's Agriculture Department, said: This season, the district People's Committee directed the restructuring of short- and medium-term rice varieties, ensuring two factors: stable productivity and good rice quality, namely: Nhi Uu 986 hybrid rice, TH 3-5 and pure rice varieties, such as: Japonica, Bac Thom 9; Vat Tu NA2, Nep 97. In a field, only 1-2 rice varieties with the same growth period are structured to facilitate disease prevention on rice. The district People's Committee arranged the sowing and planting schedule for the season from July 5 to 16 (depending on the rice variety). However, due to the prolonged dry weather and dry water sources, the sowing and planting of the season crop was about 10 days later than the schedule.

According to the district's crop calendar, people have now gone to the fields to sow rice, but on July 12, in all of Que Phong's fields, people are preparing the land and building banks to retain water. Mr. Lu Van Tien said: Unlike previous years when the water source was abundant, people only had to prepare the land and build banks, now they have to build banks firmly, not allowing water to flow freely like before, keeping the water level just enough to plant in the fields, in case the weather continues to be dry and dry, leading to a delay in the crop season. The reason for doing so is because Que Phong does not have a large dam, so it is not possible to take the initiative in irrigation water but mainly depends on the weather. Regarding fertilizer, the district directed the Agricultural Extension Station to propagate and guide farmers to use fertilizers appropriately for each rice variety, and terraced fields need to use deep-burying fertilizers.

Mother and daughter Ha Thi Thuy in Muong village, Chau Kim commune (Que Phong) build dikes to retain water, preparing to sow rice for the summer-autumn crop.

Unlike the previous crop, this crop Que Phong has structured to plant Japonica rice on more than 300 hectares in large fields of some localities. Of which, Muong Noc commune has 280 hectares with more than 50% of the area being planted with this rice variety, aiming at the goal of producing commercial rice for the people. Chau Kim commune has planted 198 hectares of rice this crop, of which 50% is hybrid rice and 50% is high-yield rice. By mid-July, basically the entire land area of ​​Chau Kim has been plowed and carefully built by the people, and embankments have been built. Mrs. Ha Thi Thuy in Muong village, who is building embankments for the terraced fields with her daughter, confided: The family has 5 sao of rice fields, which should have been planted since the beginning of July, but because there is no water, the seedlings have only been planted for a few days. This crop, the family has chosen the Tap Giao 1 rice variety to plant. After a few days of rain, mother and son went to the fields to till the soil, weed, and carefully build banks to keep the water in the fields, not letting it overflow like before. If the weather is favorable, the Muong villagers will go to the fields to plant rice in the coming days.

Chau Thon is one of the localities with a large area of ​​​​seasonal rice cultivation in the district, with 200 hectares. Mr. Vi Van Chin, Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, said: Taking advantage of streams with a lot of water after the rain, people in the commune repaired and installed water wheels to irrigate the fields. When the fields are full of water, people build banks, cover the fields, retain water, and work the land by machine, or for small fields, use buffalo power to plow and harrow. The commune propagates and directs people to absolutely not sow, but to plant seedlings. The characteristic of the seasonal rice crop is that the growing period is short, so the commune guides people to focus on applying a lot of fertilizer and applying early top dressing. In particular, based on the factors of each rice variety, increase potassium fertilizer, especially hybrid rice varieties, in which increasing deep fertilizer application.

Dig a water reservoir

The dry season has passed and the planting season is late, but farmers in the mountainous district of Con Cuong are still actively going to the fields. The areas where rice is grown with a focus on the late season crop have become the optimal solution for farmers to ensure food. For rice farmers in many communes such as Don Phuc, Binh Chuan, Mau Duc, Thach Ngan, the rains after the drought are truly as precious as gold, a good opportunity for farmers to go to the fields to sow with the motto "better late than never".

Renting a tractor to plow the fields (photo taken at Trung Dinh village - Chi Khe - Con Cuong).

Don Phuc commune has 172 hectares of rice fields scattered across 7 villages of the commune. For a long time, people have abandoned slash-and-burn farming, so rice has become the main source of food for this area that still has many difficulties. In Hong Thang village alone, most of the 21 hectares of rice fields here are located along Khe Phen stream, which used to be quite favorable for irrigation. However, the prolonged heat wave has caused this stream to dry up, leading to many rice fields having no water for planting. Therefore, right after the rain, farmers actively went to the fields to sow rice and plow the land according to the motto "even though it is late, it cannot be later". Mr. La Dinh Viet, head of Hong Thang village, shared: However, in the village, there are still households with fields higher than the stream that still lack water. People are actively taking advantage of the areas with irrigation water for planting. The village is also petitioning the government to support people in pumping water into the high fields.

According to our records, in the two villages of Tong To and Tong Tien (Don Phuc commune), these are the villages with the most difficulties in terms of water for daily life as well as production. People have consciously applied many water-saving measures to irrigate their fields. Along the terraced fields, people have dug deep holes to store rainwater, watering the rice when necessary. A woman who was pulling up seedlings to prepare for planting said: "People rarely think about digging holes to store water like this, but this year there is a big drought, so the officials have spread the word so we follow it and find it effective, suitable for highland fields."

Ms. Ho Tue Van, an agricultural officer of Don Phuc commune, said that currently, there are about 10 hectares of rice fields that are still facing difficulties in irrigation water. If it continues to rain, this area can still be planted. To proactively cope with the weather, the district People's Committee has also supported 2 field pumps to pump water for irrigation. In addition, the commune has also instructed and encouraged people to preserve water for production by digging reservoirs next to the fields. By mid-July, many households in the villages had gone to the fields to pull out seedlings and plant rice in areas with favorable irrigation water.

Ban Que is the most difficult area of ​​Binh Chuan commune. The roads are difficult, so the people here are well aware that creating local food sources will help solve the difficulties when it rains, the roads are muddy, and it is very difficult to buy rice to eat. Although the area of ​​​​wet fields is quite modest, people still take advantage of the flattest land possible to reclaim wet fields. The recent drought caused a lack of irrigation water for most of the wet fields in the village. After the rains after the drought, although the amount of rain is not large, people are very excited. Mr. Lo Van Thanh's family has 1,200 m2 of wet fields. The weather is favorable for growing 2 crops a year, the family has enough rice to eat. It is impossible to lack rice to eat, after this drought, the family has to find ways to rent water pumps to ensure enough irrigation water. Although they have taken advantage of all water sources, actively dredged the irrigation canals, it is only enough to irrigate 800 m2, the remaining area still has to wait for rain water. “If there is no rain, we will have to continue renting water pumps to keep up with the season. If we leave the land fallow, our family will run out of rice for many months,” said Mr. Thanh.

In Que village, not only Lo Van Thanh's family but also most of the families growing rice have to rent pumps to ensure irrigation water. This is also the common situation of some other villages in the commune. Mr. Nguyen The Manh, Chairman of Binh Chuan Commune People's Committee, said: "Taking advantage of water sources after the rain, by all means, the locality will create conditions for people to have enough irrigation water to produce the crop. Even though the season is late, we still have to plant rice, rice seeds are very precious to people, if we don't have enough to eat, life will be much more difficult".

Con Cuong is an area that suffered heavy damage during the recent drought, however, people are still proactive in creating water sources for irrigation. Currently, many communes have completed planting, especially the "rice granary" Mon Son. According to our records, people in the Muong Qua field area have planted early. Currently, summer-autumn and early-season rice are growing well. Some more difficult communes such as Yen Khe and Chi Khe will basically finish planting the summer-autumn and late-season crops by mid-July.

Thus, this season, many mountainous localities have had to plant rice late due to the consequences of prolonged heat. "Necessity is the mother of invention", with the practical experience of the highland people, it is hoped that these localities will have a bumper crop.

X.Hoang - V.Chong