Farmers "race" for summer-autumn crop...

(Baonghean) - ...These days, farmers in all localities in the province are concentrating on harvesting spring rice, and at the same time, starting the production of the 2015 summer-autumn crop. Despite the scorching heat, all over the fields are bustling with people and machines harvesting, tilling the land, planting seedlings... Everyone is racing for a new crop...

All this week, farmers in Quynh Luu district have been harvesting spring rice and preparing the land for the summer-autumn crop. At the "golden harvest field" of Quynh Hau commune, many fields have been neatly harvested thanks to the harvesters working all day. The race against time to speed up the summer-autumn production progress of the people here is clearly felt. While harvesting spring rice and preparing the land for the summer-autumn crop, Mr. Le Minh Thuc in hamlet 4, Quynh Hau commune happily said: "Our family has 1 hectare of rice, so we have to mobilize our brothers to focus on harvesting neatly, preparing the land, cleaning the fields, speeding up the summer-autumn production progress, and in about a week we will start planting simultaneously. This crop focuses on BC15, Thien Uu 8 and Khang Dan varieties according to the team's seed structure. Hopefully we will have a safe and secure summer-autumn crop."

People in Quynh Hau commune (Quynh Luu) plant rice seedlings to prepare for the summer-autumn crop.

Mr. Nguyen Sy Ky and his wife in hamlet 3, Quynh Hau were hurriedly carrying rice to the shore, pointing to the corner of the field where two rows of green rice seedlings had sprouted, saying as if boasting: "That means the family has been taking care of everything since the spring rice was just golden brown, hastily harvesting a corner of the field to prepare the land for planting seedlings"... Mr. Ky's many years of farming experience shows that the earlier the summer-autumn crop is done, the better, avoiding storms and ensuring a secure harvest.

The entire Quynh Hau commune has 396 hectares of rice production, which is convenient thanks to Phu Thanh Agricultural Cooperative, which specializes in irrigation services, dredging canals, and protecting fields for people; providing seeds, fertilizers, and transferring science and technology to members' households; and at the same time, estimating and forecasting pests and diseases to promptly guide people in prevention. Thanks to that, annual production crops in the locality rarely fail. The Cooperative has 4 electric pumping stations serving 340 hectares of water pumping. In addition, people actively invest in purchasing machinery for production, including 65 tillage machines for 12 hamlets and 4 combine harvesters. Such "mechanization" should speed up production progress in all stages from harvesting to tilling. The summer-autumn crop is expected to be completed in 10-12 days for the whole commune. Mr. Ho Van Mai - Chairman of Phu Thanh Agricultural Cooperative said: By May 20, the whole commune will finish sowing rice seedlings, by May 30, people will go to the fields to plant rice on a large scale, and will finish planting around June 12. Up to this point, the Cooperative has brought 42 tons of NPK to the locality to supply to people, and has supplied 50% of the amount of seeds for the summer-autumn crop. The Cooperative directs people to strictly follow the crop calendar, speed up production as soon as possible to avoid floods and pests, and harvest around August 30 (solar calendar). Quynh Hau is a commune with a tradition of effective agricultural production with a lot of experience in production, especially for the summer-autumn crop, every year they promote early and fast production, so in recent years, Quynh Hau's summer-autumn rice area has been basically stable, ensuring harvest output, making people feel secure and excited.

In the summer-autumn crop of 2015, the whole district of Quynh Luu produced 7,400 hectares of rice. The district focused on giving priority to the main varieties BC15, TBR225, Thien Uu 8... In addition, based on the specific conditions of each commune and each field, suitable varieties were selected from the rice varieties that have been allowed to be included in the structure by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Currently, the fields have been converted and re-planned to be more favorable for production. People have actively applied mechanization to land preparation and harvesting, shortening time, effort and reducing labor costs. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dinh - Head of the Department of Agriculture of Quynh Luu district said: To have good harvest results, the district directed people to produce the summer-autumn crop of 2015 safely and effectively, promote the application of scientific and technical advances in production, focus on intensive investment associated with building model fields to improve productivity, product quality, economic efficiency and income per unit of cultivated area; At the same time, well implement drought prevention, flood and storm prevention and disease prevention measures.

Farmers in Quynh Luu district prepare the land for summer-autumn planting.

In Dien Chau, farmers are focusing on harvesting and preparing the land for summer-autumn crop production, racing against time. In the rice fields of Dien Nguyen commune, members of Ms. Tran Thi Thin's family in hamlet 3 have just finished harvesting 1.2 hectares of spring rice fields, with a yield of more than 3 quintals/sao. Ms. Thin is excited: "My family has many fields, although it is hard work, we are still happy, because with a complete harvest, farmers look to the fields to live, thank God for favorable weather for a bountiful harvest, farmers have less hardship. Now my family has finished sowing rice seedlings, urgently preparing the land, waiting for the seedlings to be old enough and the weather to be cool, we will plant early to ensure harvest before August 30."

For effective summer-autumn production, the preparation of fertilizer materials has been taken care of and supplied by organizations. Mr. Ngo Xuan Hung - Head of Dien Nguyen Agricultural Cooperative said: This summer-autumn crop, the whole commune produced 393 hectares of rice, all fertilizer materials were fully supplied by the Cooperative to the people. Up to now, the Cooperative has provided 68 tons of NPK 8.10.3 for basal fertilization and about 25 tons of NPK 15.5.20 for top dressing; 10 tons of seeds. The Cooperative mobilized the maximum capacity of 4 pumping stations to serve day and night to ensure pumping water for people to both prepare the land and plant. In addition, mobilized maximum human resources and mechanical means to focus on winter-spring harvest and deploy summer-autumn as soon as possible...

Nghi Lam Agricultural Service Cooperative (Nghi Loc) has proactively reserved 80 tons of NPK fertilizer, 30 tons of urea and proactively sourced local seeds to supply to people for summer-autumn crop production. It is expected that by May 26, the Cooperative will pump water for 150 hectares, striving to complete the planting of the water-ready area by June 15. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Vinh, Chairman of the Cooperative, said: The locality is located at the end of the water source, so it is very difficult to produce summer-autumn crops due to lack of water. Regarding the supply of materials and fertilizers, the Cooperative always proactively reserves them in the warehouse to provide timely supplies to people for production. In addition, it also supplies pesticides, rat poison and pest control to people; irrigation services for in-field irrigation, contributing to the success of annual production crops.

In all communes in the province, farmers are actively repairing and renovating the banks of the fields after the rice harvest to ensure economical and effective water use. The agricultural departments of the communes direct the work of draining water in the fields, collecting straw, stubble, peanuts, corn, and spring crops to clear the canal system, not to block the flow.

Currently, the whole province is entering the spring harvest, since the rice is golden, people have harvested a patch to sow seedlings, now many rows of seedlings have nearly 2 leaves, ensuring to speed up the summer-autumn production progress. Summer-autumn crop - this year, the whole province planted 96,000 hectares of rice, of which summer-autumn is 56,000 hectares, winter-spring crop is 40,000 hectares; and 16,000 hectares of corn, 1,500 hectares of peanuts, 6,000 hectares of beans of all kinds... According to the report of the Irrigation Department, the water source at dams and at the main works is currently lower than the design and lower than in 2014 and compared to the same period of many years. According to the forecast of the hydrometeorological agency, in the summer-autumn crop, the rainfall in Nghe An will be lower than the average of many years, the water stored in dams will decrease, so the risk of drought is very high. Therefore, it is extremely important for localities to focus on saving water for summer-autumn production. The Irrigation Department has a specific plan for water regulation for localities, prioritizing early planting areas, and ensuring enough water to serve the entire area according to the plan. Areas that are planted first will be supplied with water first, not providing water en masse, causing water waste. In addition, depending on the specific conditions of each locality, some areas that do not ensure irrigation water will be converted to grow other crops.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong, Deputy Head of the Department of Crop Production of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: To ensure safe summer-autumn production, for the low-lying flooded area of ​​20,000 hectares, the structure of short-term varieties (about 100 days or less) ensures harvest before August 30, farmers sow seedlings for transplanting, and at the same time promote the use of mechanical machinery in harvesting and preparing the land for early planting. Experience in wanting to make sure of the summer-autumn crop should use short-term varieties, speed up the planting progress, and strictly implement pest control. Assign specific tasks to units in urging and directing farmers to properly implement the production plan of the province as well as the locality. In case of pest outbreaks, the locality will proactively allocate a portion of the reserve fund to support farmers in buying timely pesticides. The whole province is striving to achieve 441,200 tons of rice and corn output as the planned target for the summer-autumn crop - season 2015...

Quynh Lan