Nghe An: Bringing many high-quality rice varieties into spring crop production

Agricultural staff of Bac Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) check for pests on spring rice. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Yen Thanh district is the locality with the largest area of ​​high-quality rice in the province, with 5,500 hectares.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Duong - Head of the District's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, high-quality rice in Yen Thanh is cultivated with the following varieties: Bac Thom, AC5, Thien Uu, TBR225 .... which are pure rice varieties with a good yield of 6.6 tons/ha. Therefore, although hybrid rice varieties can reach over 7 tons/ha, due to the good quality of rice and the selling price being 10 - 15% higher than normal rice varieties, so cultivating high-quality rice, farmers have higher income.

In recent years, Do Luong district has also shifted to gradually increasing the area of ​​high-quality rice to increase income for people. According to the data of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of this district, this spring crop, the whole district planted over 7,000 hectares of rice, of which 2,267 hectares were high-quality rice varieties: Huong Thom, Kinh Bac, AC5, Thien Uu...

Farmers in Do Luong district take care of spring rice. Photo: Xuan Hoang

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Lap - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has no standards for what constitutes high-quality rice, but for Nghe An, it can be said that high-quality rice is evaluated through two criteria: Easy to consume and a selling price 1,000 - 1,500 VND/kg higher than normal rice. Based on these orientations, in recent years, Nghe An has gradually reduced the area of ​​low-yield, poor-quality rice such as Nhi Uu 838, Nhi Uu 986... and gradually increased the hybrid rice varieties and pure rice with good quality.

Previously, the hybrid rice area in the spring crop was 60,000 hectares (accounting for 64% of the total rice area), but this spring crop the hybrid rice area has decreased to 45,000 hectares (accounting for 49%). Thus, the area of ​​high-quality rice varieties in Nghe An has reached over 47,000 hectares (accounting for 51% of the total area).

Currently, localities in the province are tending to increase the area of ​​pure rice varieties with delicious quality, to meet consumer demand and increase income per unit area.