Nghe An: Harvesters 'infected' with disease do not return, many rice fields are ripe and cannot be harvested in time

FARMERS ARE ANXIOUSLY WAITING FOR THE HARVEST

Currently, the rice in Mai field, Duong Sat field... with 176 hectares of rice fields of nearly 400 households in My Giang hamlet, Hung My commune (Hung Nguyen) is ripe, many rice fields have probably dropped grains due to over-ripeness, especially the rice fields that were knocked down by storms at the beginning of the month with signs of sprouting. The people are impatient, sitting still when the rice is over-ripe and combine harvesters are scarce so they cannot harvest.

Ripe rice is wilting, many fields of dry and fallen rice stalks are still unharvestable due to lack of combine harvesters. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Ms. Ngo Thi Que, a resident in My Giang hamlet, Hung My commune (Hung Nguyen) said: "My family has 1 acre of rice field, the storm destroyed 6 acres, now the rice is ripe and wilted but there is no machine to hire to harvest. Now the weather is sunny and dry, after harvesting we can still dry the rice and straw, but in a few days, if it rains, all the rice will be ruined."

Ms. Que said that in previous years, there were harvesters from the villagers, but this year, they sold the machines and machines from other provinces did not arrive, so the villagers could not harvest rice. Since yesterday, thanks to an acquaintance, a person in the commune contacted and was able to arrange for a harvester from Binh Dinh province to harvest for the villagers at a price of 160,000 VND/sao of standing rice and 180,000-200,000 VND/sao of fallen rice. However, because they only got one machine, while the villagers still had a lot of rice fields, Ms. Que and many other villagers in My Giang hamlet waited from afternoon, evening until this morning, the machine still had not arrived at their fields.

Sharing the same situation, Mr. Nguyen Huu Thiet in Hung My commune (Hung Nguyen) said: “There are 6 sao of rice fields that are ripe but there is no machine to harvest. Seeing the ripe rice, the solid grains falling in the field, makes me feel heartbroken. I don’t have the strength to harvest by hand, I don’t raise buffaloes or cows, and all the rice threshing machines have been sold, so now I don’t know how to bring the rice home. There has never been a shortage of harvesters like this year…”.

In the entire area of ​​nearly 200 hectares of rice fields, farmers in My Giang hamlet, Hung My commune (Hung Nguyen) only rely on a single harvester from Binh Dinh province to harvest for hire. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Not only in Hung My commune but also in the fields of Hung Nguyen district, the rice is golden yellow, many plots have wilted, the ears are dry but have not been harvested yet due to the scarcity of combine harvesters. Mr. Hoang Duc An - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hung Nguyen district said: "This year's spring rice crop, the whole district has 5,200 hectares of rice. Currently, the rice is ripe, ready for harvest, but by May 17, the whole district has only harvested 40% of the area. This year, harvesters are scarce, not enough to meet the needs of the people".

From 4am, many people were present at the field to rent harvesters, but by noon, the machines still had not arrived at their fields. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In Tru Son commune (Do Luong), in recent days, people as well as harvester owners have had to harvest all night to meet the harvest deadline. Mr. Nguyen Van Tung in hamlet 6, Tru Son commune said: “The rice is too ripe, if we don’t harvest it in time, all the grains will fall off, if it rains again, it will be a total loss. Besides, if we don’t harvest quickly, we will be late in preparing the land, late in planting the summer-autumn crop, and if we encounter early floods, we will have a bad harvest. Therefore, last night, May 16, the whole family had to share the harvester to harvest 6 sao of rice fields, and it was not finished until 3 am.”

The main reason for the shortage of combine harvesters is that this year, the Covid-19 epidemic is complicated, machines from the provinces in the inner region are limited and cannot reach Nghe An, while rice varieties are all planted at the same time, so they ripen at the same time and are harvested at the same time, but the number of combine harvesters in the localities is small, not enough to meet the needs of the people.

“INFLATION” OF MACHINE HARVESTING SERVICES

Harvester shortage occurs in most localities in the province. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In most areas of the province, rice has reached the peak harvest time, however, due to the limited number of harvesters, it is not enough to meet the needs of the people. In many places, the rice has ripened and the rice ears have fallen off but it is still not possible to harvest. Notably, in some places, local authorities from commune to hamlet have proactively contacted, connected and contracted the price of machine harvester services for the people, but in some localities, there is a situation of protecting the harvesters.

In many places such as Hanh Lam commune (Thanh Chuong), the price for harvesting 1 sao of standing rice is 200,000 VND, and for fallen rice is 220,000-250,000 VND; in Tru Son commune (Do Luong), the price for fallen rice is 250,000 VND/sao, and for fallen rice in deep fields is 300,000 VND/sao; in Nam Thanh commune (Nam Dan), the price is 180,000 - 250,000 VND/sao. Ms. Pham Thi Tri in Tru Son (Do Luong) said: "Like last year, the same amount of rice fields cost only 500,000 VND to harvest, this year it costs 1,500,000 VND, 3 times more. But it is not easy to rent a machine, you have to wait, follow the machine all day, beg them and your family to follow the machine to pack the rice for them to harvest".

In particular, on the page “Mechanical Harvesting Association in Nghe An”, many people from different places have spoken up to connect and contact to call harvesters to their local fields to harvest rice for the people. However, most of the machine owners ask for high prices (VND 200,000/sao of standing rice; VND 250,000/sao of fallen rice).

Unable to wait for the harvester, this farmer agreed to harvest the rice by hand and carry it home. Photo: Thanh Phuc

People want local authorities to connect and create conditions for harvester owners to return to the fields to harvest rice in time for the season; at the same time, there are measures to prevent harvester owners from raising or forcing down prices.

In the long term, to implement agricultural mechanization and avoid the current shortage of harvesters and passivity in production, the State needs to have support policies and create conditions for people and agricultural cooperatives to access preferential loans to purchase combine harvesters, tillage machines, sprayers, etc. to serve people's needs and proactively manage crops.