Nghe An: Average yield of spring crop 2022 reaches nearly 67 quintals/ha

Adverse weather affects productivity

In just 10 days, from May 12 to 22, Dien Chau has harvested 8,200 hectares of spring rice. This year, the rice yield is not as high as last year's spring crop, down 1.5 quintals/sao. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, hamlet 5, Dien Thai commune, said that her family's 3 sao of rice were planted before Tet, the weather was warm so the rice took root quickly, but from the 4th day of Tet, the weather turned cold, the rice plants stopped growing.

“I still fertilize with nitrogen to stimulate the rice to tiller, but the rice grows very slowly and the tillers are poor. By mid-May, when we were ready to harvest, it rained continuously and the rice lost a lot of its flowers. This year’s yield is not as good as last year’s, only less than 3.5 quintals per sao,” said Ms. Hoa.

Leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development inspect the spring rice situation and deploy summer-autumn production in Dien Chau district. Photo: Phu Huong

According to Mr. Le The Hieu - Head of the District's Agriculture Department, this year's production faced difficulties due to unfavorable weather. The entire spring crop area was planted before Tet, so the severe cold that lasted after Tet affected the tillering and panicle formation of the rice plants; in mid-April, when the rice entered the panicle formation and flowering stage, it continued to rain and cold; the spring rice yield of Dien Chau did not reach the desired level.

This spring crop, Hung Nguyen district planted nearly 5,200 hectares of rice, expected to be harvested in early June. The whole district has over 700 hectares of early rice fields using long-term rice varieties planted before Tet. The long cold rains right after Tet fell right at the time when the rice plants needed to be cared for to tiller and form panicles; in mid-April, when the rice was in the flowering stage, it rained, causing the panicle heads to degenerate, affecting the yield; at harvest time, it rained and winded, causing the panicles to fall off, further reducing the yield and quality; in some communes, the yield decreased quite sharply. The average yield of the whole district is estimated at over 66 quintals/ha, down 2-3% compared to last spring crop.

This spring crop, Nghe An planted over 90,000 hectares of rice. It can be seen that this is a difficult crop, with high fertilizer prices due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, unfavorable weather, etc. Right from the 4th day of Tet, the province began a long period of cold rain, while Nghe An has many areas in Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Quynh Luu districts, etc. that were planted before Tet. At the stage when rice plants need to be cared for to tiller, the low temperature causes the rice to stop growing and almost cannot absorb nutrients, so tiller and pollination are limited; at the end of the harvest, there is heavy rain in the province, affecting the harvest progress.

Experience in the bumper crop area

Despite difficulties in weather and high prices of fertilizers and materials, according to information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, this year's spring rice yield still reached about 67.76 quintals/ha, although slightly lower than the 2021 spring rice yield of 68.3 quintals/ha, it is still higher than the spring rice yield of many years ago.

Some areas suffered crop failures, but most of Hung Nguyen's acreage was planted according to the crop calendar, so the yield was basically stable and high, especially in the outlying communes such as Hung Yen Nam, Hung Yen Bac, Hung Trung... Thanks to that, Hung Nguyen still ensured the acreage, yield and output, even higher than the average in recent years. Taking advantage of the rainless weather, Mr. Nguyen Van Hoang's family in Trung village, Hung Tan commune went to the fields to harvest 6 sao of rice. "This year the weather was cloudy for a long time, with little sunshine, but fortunately there were few pests and diseases, so the rice was basically good, with a yield of nearly 3.5 quintals/sao," Mr. Hoang happily said.

Spring rice yield in Dien Chau still reaches 7.3 tons/ha. Photo: Phu Huong

Mr. Le Viet Hung - District Agriculture Department said: The whole district has built 35 fields of production linkage and product consumption with a total area of ​​730 hectares, using advanced rice varieties such as VR20, Bac Thinh, TBR 25... The area of ​​high-quality rice in the area has reached approximately 4,000/5,180 hectares.

Despite the decrease in productivity, Dien Chau's spring rice still reaches 73 quintals/ha, ranking among the top in the province. The district has put into use advanced rice varieties with more than 80% of the area planted with hybrid rice varieties, many of which are new hybrid rice varieties such as VT 505, Long Huong 8117, Nhi Uu 986... with both high yield and quality, and are less susceptible to pests and diseases; 20% of the area is pure rice, the rest are all quality rice varieties and have product consumption links. The whole district has built 35 models of new, high-yield and high-quality varieties in 34 communes, with yields about 10% higher than the average.

Speed ​​up progress, complete spring rice harvest

According to Ms. Vo Thi Nhung - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the results achieved in this year's spring crop are a combination of many factors. At each stage, the province and the agricultural sector continuously issued documents directing production, making timely forecasts to take early measures to prevent and control pests and diseases. Strengthening inspections to limit the purchase and use of poor quality fertilizers.

Hung Nguyen farmers harvest spring rice. Photo: Phu Huong

The whole province has over 40 hectares of ineffective rice that have been converted to other crops with higher adaptability and economic value, of which 5 hectares have been converted to rice crop land and 36 hectares to double-crop rice land. In particular, promoting the construction of value chain linkage models, with an area of ​​about 1,700 hectares of crops, in which rice is linked with enterprises to purchase right at the field at a price of 6,000 - 6,500 VND/kg of fresh rice. The area of ​​high-quality rice has been expanded.

According to the general assessment, although the yield is not as high as last year's spring crop, this year's spring crop is still a good crop. By June 1, Nghe An has harvested more than 90% of the area, and it is expected that the whole province will complete the spring rice harvest by June 10. Localities need to take advantage of favorable weather to harvest quickly and neatly; have a plan to manage harvester service activities to create favorable conditions for people to harvest spring rice and soon deploy summer-autumn production.