Nghe An: Many summer-autumn rice areas have empty grains and are completely lost.

Just a preliminary calculation in some districts such as Dien Chau, Nghi Loc, Yen Thanh, there were about 3,000 hectares of Khang Dan, Bac Thom, Huong Bien 3, NA9... varieties that bloomed in mid-July with empty seeds, many areas were completely lost.

In addition, four other districts, Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Do Luong and Hung Nguyen, are also in a similar situation.

Since the beginning of August, Mr. Nguyen Nang Tu in Nam Xuan commune has been going to the fields to harvest young rice to feed... cows. Photo: Phu Huong

Mr. Nguyen Nang Tu in Nam Xuan commune, Nam Dan district said: In a few dozen days, his family's 4 sao of Khang Dan rice will be ready for harvest, but I have cut it for the cows to eat because the rice heads are dry and have no grains. We have to harvest early for the cows to eat, otherwise if we leave it for a few more days, the cows will not be able to eat it because it is bitter.

The entire Nam Xuan commune has 324 hectares of summer-autumn rice, of which 30 hectares in hamlets 4, 5, 6 have not yet bloomed after 70 days of planting, the remaining area that bloomed from July 15 to 20 also had a severe crop failure. Mr. Nguyen Huu Thuan - Head of the Agriculture Department of Nam Xuan commune said that 100 hectares were completely lost, 150 hectares were damaged from 30 to 70%. For the past 2 weeks, many households have gone to the fields to harvest rice to feed their cows.

Many rice fields in Nghi Van commune (Nghi Loc) are ripening beautifully but the yield is only 70 - 90 kg/sao. Photo: Phu Huong

Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh - Vice Chairman of Nghi Van Commune People's Committee (Nghi Loc) said: In this year's summer-autumn crop, Nghi Van commune planted 593 hectares of rice, using Khang Dan, NA9, LRS9, VTR20 varieties... The whole commune has 480 - 490 hectares with serious yield loss, many fields have beautiful golden ripe rice but the rice grains are all empty. It is estimated that around August 20, Nghi Van commune will complete the summer-autumn rice harvest, but the yield will only reach 70 - 90 kg/sao, not only that, the rice grains are empty and bad, they can only be used as animal feed.

“Since June, the hot weather has caused more than 26 hectares of rice to be unable to bloom, considered a total loss. After the rains in early July, the rice bloomed but continued to face severe drought, so in most areas, the rice still had grains but the rate of empty grains was very high,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh.

Officials from the provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection inspect the damage to summer-autumn rice in Dien Tho commune (Dien Chau). Photo: Phu Huong

Since the end of June, Nghi Loc district has lost 300 hectares of rice due to prolonged drought. Not stopping there, 1,700 hectares of rice that were in bloom from July 10 to July 22 also suffered a severe crop failure. The rice was stuck in panicles, could not be dried, and the rice flowers were burnt and had no grains.

The rice fields from July 10 to July 20 have a high rate of empty grains, appearing on many rice varieties. The initial cause is that this year the intense heat wave lasted continuously for more than 60 days, with many times the temperature was extremely high, especially from June to July, the period when the rice plants form panicles and bloom.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc - Head of the Provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection

Summer-autumn rice flowers are dry and the grains are flat. Photo: Phu Huong

"However, many areas that started flowering after July 25, when the weather was more favorable, still did not yield rice. We are currently focusing on reviewing and evaluating all varieties and different flowering times to determine the objective and exact cause of the current widespread summer-autumn rice crop failure," said Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc.