Increasing production value - Solution to attract farmers to the fields

(Baonghean) -In recent years, the number of farmers abandoning their fields has been on the rise. This problem occurs not only in the unstable summer-autumn and winter crops, but also in the spring crop - considered the most effective and safest crop of the year.

For nearly 20 years now, the summer-autumn crop has become one of the two main crops of the year, with rice growing area reaching 55-56 thousand hectares. However, in recent years, the situation of abandoned production fields, especially in the summer-autumn crop, has been increasing. According to statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in this year's summer-autumn crop, the whole province has had nearly 1,000 hectares of abandoned rice fields, the winter crop growing area has been decreasing sharply, from Nghe An having nearly 60 thousand hectares of winter corn (in 2006), to the winter crop in 2012, that area has decreased to only nearly 30 thousand hectares. According to many experts in the agricultural sector, this situation has not yet greatly affected agricultural production as well as the issue of ensuring food security in the province. However, if it is allowed to continue and become more and more common, this is a worrying issue.

It can be affirmed that, besides some areas, some families abandon summer-autumn crop production to work for hire or do business, the majority of the area that does not cultivate summer-autumn rice is due to unstable production conditions, often affected by natural disasters. Hung Dao commune (Hung Nguyen) is one of the localities considered to be in the "flood center". The whole commune has 495 hectares of rice land, previously it used to grow two crops, but in the past few years, the area of ​​land abandoned in the summer-autumn crop has increased. Mr. Nguyen Van Binh (village 6) has 6 sao of rice fields, but this summer-autumn he only cultivated on 4 sao in Cua Nuong area. He was frustrated: “All 6 sao of land are often flooded during the summer-autumn crop, each time it is flooded for up to 10 days, which is normal, but I regret the land so I have to try to grow 4 sao, the remaining 2 sao even though I regret it, I have to abandon it. I planted Khang Dan variety to have high yield but usually only yield 1.5 - 2 quintals/sao. Like this year, there has been no flood but it has been damaged by rats, a 1 sao 12 thuoc field can only produce 7 loads of rice, about 35 kg”.

Abandoned fields in Hung Dao (Hung Nguyen).

According to the report of the People's Committee of Hung Dao commune, if previously the area of ​​abandoned land was only scattered in some fields, then in the past two years, that phenomenon has become common, people abandoned it in areas, this summer-autumn crop alone, the whole commune has over 40 hectares of abandoned land, concentrated in hamlets 3, 4, 5. Chairman of the People's Committee - Mr. Phan Dinh Hanh said: Hung Dao is a low-lying commune, only needing continuous rain of a few hundred li for most of the area to be flooded. In recent years, rainwater from upstream has poured in faster and faster, so flooding comes faster and lasts longer, when the water recedes, the rice plants have rotted and lost. In particular, in the past two years, when the dike area of ​​Hoi Tinh river on the town side was built nearly 1 meter higher than this side, the flooding situation has become even more severe. To cope with natural disasters such as storms and floods, in the summer-autumn crop, Hung Dao regularly restructures short-term varieties such as Huong Thom No. 1, sticky rice, VTNA2, especially Khang Dan rice variety that can withstand water. When the rice flowers are green and firm, if there is a flood, there will still be seeds to use for livestock farming.

It can be seen that farmers abandoning their fields is a phenomenon of labor shifting from agriculture to non-agriculture, but not entirely but mainly seasonally. However, there must be reasonable mechanisms and policies to prevent rice fields from being abandoned. According to Mr. Nguyen Tho Canh (former Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development), to properly solve this problem, there must be a land lease mechanism, creating conditions for shifting production land from those who do not need it to those who do and have the ability to invest in production. Along with that, there must be appropriate rental prices for each specific type of land. In addition, it can be easily seen that the situation of land abandonment is currently mainly occurring in production areas facing many difficulties in natural conditions such as natural disasters, storms, floods, and droughts. For these areas, the State needs to have appropriate and strong enough policies so that farmers can continue to maintain production.

Mr. Nguyen Van Truong (Head of the Agriculture Department of Hung Nguyen District) said: Of the more than 200 hectares of rice fields abandoned in the summer-autumn crop this year in Hung Nguyen, most are in flooded, low-lying or drought-prone areas. While production in these areas is very unstable, the State only supports 100,000 VND/sao of rice if lost due to natural disasters, which is not enough to buy 1kg of hybrid rice seeds. Therefore, the State needs to have a policy to support the improvement of the field infrastructure system, serving irrigation, especially flood prevention and drainage for low-lying communes.

One of the main reasons why farmers abandon their fields is the problem of profit and loss in agricultural production. Ms. Phan Thi Viet (Hamlet 12, Xuan Thanh - Yen Thanh) said: Her family has 3.5 sao of rice, but because there is no labor, they have to hire labor. While the price of rice has not increased, the cost of hiring labor has increased. Previously, one sao of rice harvest only cost 100,000 VND, but in the last spring crop, her family had to hire labor for 300,000 VND, and if the rice fell, it would cost 500,000 VND, not to mention the labor of tilling the land, plowing, planting, and spraying pesticides and weed killers at least four times each crop. In other words, if there are no losses due to natural disasters, agricultural production is not very profitable.

In some communes of Hung Nguyen, especially the communes adjacent to Vinh city such as the town, Hung Tay, Hung Phuc, Hung Thinh, Hung Loi, most young people leave to work for hire, trade with higher income than farming. Especially in Hung Chau, fields are not only left fallow in the summer-autumn crop but also in the spring crop which is considered a favorable production season, the reason is said to be due to lack of labor. Faced with this situation, Hung Nguyen has directed all levels of sectors and organizations to mobilize and call on households that do not have production needs to lend, rent, or return their fields to others. However, this policy is also facing difficulties, because although farmers abandon production, they still want to keep their fields.

Besides some localities where farmers abandon their fields, in key rice areas with good intensive cultivation and commodity production such as Dien Chau and Yen Thanh, this situation is very rare, one could say non-existent. Mr. Nguyen Van Duong (Head of the Department of Agriculture of Yen Thanh district) said: With a semi-mountainous terrain, in addition to the area of ​​flat land that is quite favorable for summer-autumn production, Yen Thanh also has a large area of ​​highland land, without proactive water in mountainous communes such as Quang Thanh, Kim Thanh, Tay Thanh... and especially nearly 3,000 hectares in low-lying communes of Nhan Thanh, Long Thanh... that are frequently flooded.

To proactively cope with this situation, Yen Thanh has advocated converting areas that are often affected by drought and lack water to grow other drought-tolerant crops. For low-lying areas, the district has advocated using short-term rice varieties, promoting mechanization in land preparation and early planting. Thanks to that, this year's summer-autumn crop, as early as August 20, Yen Thanh has begun harvesting summer-autumn rice. Farmers abandoning their fields for production is something that has never happened in this locality. According to agricultural experts, summer-autumn is a production season that is essentially considered "flood-free", localities should not take productivity as the main goal, but must find a way to "avoid" the floods that often occur at the end of the crop. Nghe An has nearly 5,000 hectares of flood-free rice in low-lying areas. With these areas, it is necessary to plant old rice seedlings and plant them early so that they can be harvested before August 30.

Currently, the whole province is focusing on harvesting summer-autumn rice and starting winter crop production. With the current trend of decreasing winter crop area, there needs to be strong and synchronous solutions so that winter crop becomes the third main and most effective crop of the year, gradually overcoming the situation of land being left fallow throughout the crop. There have been many very effective winter crop production models in many localities such as growing squash, potatoes, and soybeans. Unlike some other localities, Yen Thanh's land fund is mainly two-rice land, so this winter crop, the district has proactively cooperated with Vinamilk Dairy Company to plant about 200 hectares of corn in Dong Thanh and Lang Thanh communes to provide stems and leaves for the factory to make animal feed.

After converting the land, many low-lying areas in Hong Thanh, Phuc Thanh, and Nhan Thanh have raised the system of embankments and fields, made irrigation more convenient, and developed the winter fish farming area with a scale of over 200 hectares. Models like this need to be noticed and replicated, especially in areas with similar conditions, to increase the area and efficiency of winter crop production. In the total annual food output of the province of nearly 1.2 million tons, corn alone accounts for 200,000 tons, mainly winter corn. With the condition of a large amount of land and a huge demand for products of the main crops in the winter crop, synchronous and effective solutions, with the active participation of localities, are necessary to prevent land from being abandoned and causing waste.

Phu Huong