Nghe An: With a daily wage of nearly half a million, it is still difficult to hire workers to plant rice.

These days, farmers in Thanh Chuong localities are making efforts to close the spring rice area in time for the season. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Ms. Hien Canh's family (Ha hamlet, Thanh Linh commune, Thanh Chuong district) cultivates 4 sao of rice fields. After Tet, she rented a machine to till the soil and complete the fertilization. However, because the water has not yet reached the fields, they have to wait for enough water to plant the seedlings. The weather is warm and sunny, the pumping stations are operating, and there is enough water for planting, so the people of the whole commune also go to the fields at the same time, making it difficult to hire workers to plant.

“I called the familiar group of workers in the commune, but they were also busy planting rice in their own fields; I posted on my personal Facebook page and Thanh Chuong group, but it took 2 days for someone to accept the job. 4 sao, hiring 5 people to pull out the seedlings and plant the rice costs 1.6 million VND/day,” said Ms. Hien Canh.

Due to the lack of water at the beginning of the season, now that the pumping stations are back in operation, people are rushing to the fields and hiring workers to plant rice in time for the season. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Not knowing how to use Facebook to post a job to hire rice transplanters, it took Ms. Nguyen Thi Ninh (Long village, Thanh Linh commune) 3 days to hire someone to transplant 1.5 sao of her family's rice field.

“If you ask the people who often plant for hire in the commune, most of them have taken over other people’s fields. In previous years, we planted early so our children had not gone to the South to work, so they helped us plant for us, we didn’t have to hire them. This year, we planted later, all our children had gone, and the young workers in the village and commune had returned to work at the factory, so it was harder to hire them. We had to wait at the edge of the field, begging a group of three workers to plant the neighbor’s field and then come over to plant for us before they agreed. We spent 1 million VND on the rental fee for 1.5 sao of rice field,” said Ms. Ninh.

Although the wages are quite high, it is still very difficult to hire workers to plant. Photo: Thanh Phuc

This spring crop, Thanh Chuong district planted 8,600 hectares of rice, according to the crop calendar, the area will be closed before February 10. Due to the previous lack of water, the water did not reach the fields until February 4. In order to be on time for the crop, people urgently went to the fields, concentrated their manpower and hired workers to plant. However, hiring workers to plant was quite difficult when the number of people to plant for hire was not as much as before, other localities also went to the fields at the same time, so it became even more scarce.

“Even though I pay 300,000 VND/day, even 350,000 VND/day (8 hours) and 400,000 - 450,000 VND/day (if planting through noon), I still can't find anyone to hire. I want to hire 5-6 people to pull out the seedlings and plant in 1 day to finish the job in 3 sao of rice fields, but I can't find anyone,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Hoc, a field owner in Thanh Hung commune (Thanh Chuong).

Currently, the cost of planting rice ranges from 300,000-400,000 VND/day or 500,000-550,000 VND/sao. Photo: Thanh Phuc

After Tet, localities in Thanh Chuong district as well as Do Luong, Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen districts are urgently closing the spring rice area. At the beginning of the season, there was a lack of water, so now that water is supplied to the fields, women are still focusing on going to the fields. Therefore, the demand for workers to plant rice has increased.

Ms. Dinh Thi Thanh (Tan Hop hamlet, Dai Dong commune, Thanh Chuong) said: “For the past 5 days, our group of 7 people has continuously received calls from landowners who hire us to plant rice. The wages for small fields range from 300,000 - 350,000 VND/day; for deep fields, 400,000 VND/day; and for contracted areas, it is up to 500,000 VND/sao. On a day when we are active and plant rice through the afternoon, 7 people can plant 6-7 sao, dividing the wages, we can pocket half a million VND/day.”

Many localities have introduced mechanization into production, but due to the limited number of transplanting machines, it has not been able to meet people's needs. Photo: Thanh Phuc

According to Ms. Thanh, it is currently the peak of the spring rice planting season, the demand for hiring workers to plant rice is increasing as people want to close the area in time for the season, do not want to wait long because they are afraid that the fields will dry out and old seedlings will affect the growth of the rice plants. Therefore, from the 13th to the 21st of the first lunar month, the planting group is fully booked, and has to refuse to accept fields even though many people call to hire. "Not only Thanh Chuong area but also people from neighboring districts such as Nam Dan and Do Luong also call to schedule planting, but we have not been able to arrange it yet," Ms. Thanh said.

Although the work is seasonal, lasting only 10-15 days, the high wages help many people earn extra income during the off-season./.