Many localities sow spring crops early: Little joy, much worry

Before Tet, most farmers in Yen Thanh, Dien Chau and Quynh Luu districts had finished planting spring rice. Photo: Xuan Hoang

In the last days of December, walking through the fields from Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Hung Nguyen districts... to Do Luong, Nghia Dan, I saw that farmers had finished their work.spring rice planting, even some rice fields have begun to turn green. It is known that in many places, farmers have planted rice since mid-December, despite all recommendations from professional agencies and local authorities that the spring planting season this year should start on January 5.

Mr. Nguyen Van Long in Bac Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) said that he knew that the State's crop calendar was to sow rice after Tet, but because the time before Tet is usually idle, people want to go to the fields to sow rice to celebrate Tet comfortably. "If people in the village go to the fields to sow spring rice in December, my family will also have to go to the fields to do it. Because if we don't do it, later in the harvest season, people will harvest all the fields, and the remaining fields will be destroyed by buffaloes, cows, grasshoppers... and there won't even be machines to harvest," said Mr. Long.

Farmers in Bac Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) went to the fields to sow spring rice 2023 from December 20, 2022. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Nguyen Trong Huong - Director of Yen Thanh District Agricultural Service Center said: Although the district has implemented a specific and detailed plan for spring rice production in 2023,seasonal calendarand all levels and sectors regularly propagated in all forms, but people did not strictly follow the district's planting schedule. By the end of December, most communes in the district had basically finished planting spring rice; only a few highland communes: Lang Thanh, Hau Thanh, Hung Thanh, Dong Thanh... had not yet planted.

In Dien Chau district, the situation of farmers sowing spring rice before the crop calendar is also quite common in many localities. Mr. Le The Hieu - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of this district said: This year, based on the crop calendar of the province, the district has implemented a specific spring crop production plan, close to reality. In general, spring rice is sown after Tet. However, at the spring crop production deployment meeting of the district, some localities with deep and low-lying land (the whole district has about 1,200 hectares of deep and low-lying land) proposed to sow rice earlier than the crop calendar to harvest early, then deploy summer-autumn rice production to avoid flooding. To limit the situation of farmers in the highlands sowing spring rice before the crop calendar, in addition to propaganda work, Dien Chau district also has a solution to cut off irrigation water for a certain period of time so that farmers do not have water to prepare the land and sow rice; Households that deliberately plant early, if they encounter risks due to natural disasters, will not receive support policies from the State... However, most communes have completed spring rice planting by the end of December.

By January 17 (December 26), many spring rice fields in the province had begun to turn green. Photo: Xuan Hoang

According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc - Head of the Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection: Due to the Spring Festival of 2023 on January 14, and the intercalary February 2, the cold will last until the third lunar month. In order for the rice to bloom in warm weather, at the end of April of the solar calendar, the province issued a calendar for the next spring rice crop to be planted after the Lunar New Year.

However, by January 17 (December 26), the whole province had planted about 50,000/90,000 hectares of spring rice, concentrated in the following localities: Do Luong about 70%, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Hung Nguyen from 50 - 60% of the area.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc is worried that compared to the province's crop schedule, farmers sow rice 15-20 days earlier, which puts the rice seedlings at risk of severe cold and the spring rice will bloom in unfavorable weather conditions, affecting productivity.

Spring crop production is the main crop of the year, therefore, farmers need to follow the crop calendar and recommendations of professional agencies to avoid risks due to weather and bring high productivity to crops.