Nghe An farmers harvest summer-autumn rice to escape floods

When the summer-autumn rice was 80% ripe, farmers in the low-lying Yen Thanh area hired harvesters to harvest while the weather was still sunny and dry. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Since August 12, farmers in some low-lying communes of Yen Thanh district: Khanh Thanh, Long Thanh, Vinh Thanh... have gone to the fields to harvest summer-autumn rice, with the motto "green at home is better than old in the fields" to prevent floods from coming.

Mr. Hai's family in Khanh Thanh commune is waiting for the harvester in the field, saying: When the rice is 80% ripe, people have hired machines to harvest. His family is the same, the entire nearly 2 sao of rice field in this low-lying field was also urgently harvested on August 13.

"The summer-autumn crop is unstable because floods often occur when the rice is ripe. Therefore, when the rice is over 80% ripe, it is harvested immediately. Otherwise, when there is a flood, everything will be flooded, the rice will germinate, and it will be considered lost," Mr. Hai confided.

Farmers are speeding up the harvesting process in low-lying rice fields. Photo: Xuan Hoang

This summer-autumn crop, Yen Thanh district planted 11,000 hectares of rice. Of which, the rice area in low-lying, flood-prone areas is 3,000 hectares. Mr. Nguyen Van Duong - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee said: The district has planned to plant early in the low-lying, flood-prone fields, so by August 12, the entire 3,000 hectares of flood-prone areas had 80 - 90% of the rice grains ripened. To prevent floods, the district directed the low-lying communes to urgently harvest rice with the motto "green at home is better than ripe in the fields".

"The summer-autumn crop often faces weather risks, so the district directs that rice be harvested as soon as it is ripe. The plan is that by the end of August, Yen Thanh district will harvest 10,500 hectares, and the remaining 500 hectares of highland areas will be harvested in September," Mr. Nguyen Van Duong added.

In Dien Chau district, farmers in some areas have also gone to the fields to harvest summer-autumn rice. Mr. Le The Hieu - Head of the district's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that this summer-autumn crop, Dien Chau district planted 9,000 hectares of rice, of which 2,000 hectares were in flood-prone areas. By August 14, Dien Chau district had harvested about 100 hectares in Minh Chau and Dien Nguyen communes. It is expected that by August 25, Dien Chau district will have finished harvesting 2,000 hectares of rice in flood-prone areas.

Farmers in Khanh Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) said that after hearing the weather forecast, heavy rain was imminent, so everyone was waiting for machines to harvest rice early. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc - Head of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection recommends: The summer-autumn crop often encounters storms, so when low-lying rice fields are 75-80% ripe or more, farmers should harvest immediately to avoid damage when encountering storms. However, for highland areas, late planting, it is certain that harvest will be done later, so insects and pests on the harvested areas will concentrate to cause damage. Therefore, farmers need to pay attention to take preventive measures./.