Quynh Luu farmers are not interested in winter crop production?
(Baonghean.vn)Many years ago, the winter crop was the crop that brought high income to farmers in Quynh Luu district. But in recent years, the winter crop area of the district has been continuously decreasing, and farmers are no longer interested in the winter crop...
Walking on the fields of the communes along National Highway 1A from Quynh Giang to the communes in Hoang Mai down to Quynh Hung, it is surprising to see that almost all the two-rice growing land of the communes is left fallow. Many years ago, the winter crop in this area saw corn, potatoes, and vegetables competing to grow well. Ms. Vu Thi Nga (Hamlet 8, Quynh Hung) shared: "In previous years, this field was full of corn and potatoes, now it is left fallow with no one working. My family grows 4 sao of rice and 2 sao of corn and potatoes in the winter every year. But this year we are not growing the winter crop because the harvest is not good." Ms. Nga calculated: Investing in planting one sao of corn (including seeds and fertilizer) costs 500,000 VND/sao, not to mention the effort of taking care of it. If the weather is not favorable, it rains a lot, and the fertilizer is washed away, then we have to invest more. Meanwhile, the average harvest is 2 quintals of corn kernels per sao, sold at the current price (7,500 VND/kg) for 1.5 million VND. While growing corn, the land preparation stage is very hard, requires high mounds, a lot of care, regular weeding, field visits, pest control, fertilization... Moreover, the winter crop production is unstable, worried about natural disasters and floods like last year, people spend time and capital to invest but have no harvest.
Winter vegetable production in Quynh Hung commune.
Ms. Vu Thi Viet (Hamlet 9, Quynh Hung) confided: "In the winter crop of 2010, Ms. Dinh Thi Nha and I planted 7 sao of climbing beans, cabbage, and kohlrabi together. Every day, we stayed in the field from dawn to dusk. It was so hard, but we never expected the floods to hit, causing a total loss. When the water receded, the fields were flat, so we regretted our efforts and money, so we tried to hoe and plow another crop of kohlrabi and lettuce, hoping to serve the Tet vegetable market to have some money to pay off the debt, but we also lost everything. Up to now, after a year, we still owe 5 million VND for fertilizer, nitrogen, and seeds that we have not been able to pay. Therefore, this year's winter crop was partly due to the delay in the crop schedule, but the main reason is that people saw that production was ineffective, so they were discouraged and no one wanted to do it."
According to Mr. Tran Binh Trong - Vice Chairman of Quynh Hung Commune People's Committee, in the 2011 winter crop, the district assigned the locality to produce 80 hectares. Up to now, the whole commune has planted 42 hectares, mainly corn and sweet potatoes (including the area of production in home gardens), reaching 50% of the plan. Before 2006, Quynh Hung people were very enthusiastic about winter crop production, but in the last 5 years, they have not met the district's target. The reason is partly because the commune's land is not favorable for winter crop production. Quynh Hung is located at the end of Binh Son drainage canal, so when the rainy season comes, water from other communes flows here, often causing flooding in the fields, affecting the efficiency of agricultural production. In addition, the winter crop production schedule this year is delayed by nearly 1 month, affecting the season.
However, the main reason why people are not interested in the winter crop is because the harvest is not commensurate with the effort and money spent. Farmers find that finding other jobs with higher income than winter crop production. Quynh Hung has a developed fine art carpentry village, women who work as sandpaper makers for the craft village, in addition to being provided lunch by the owner, are also paid 70,000 - 80,000 VND/day. Men who work as construction workers and masons, with wages of 120,000 - 150,000 VND/day, also have a significant income. While planting 1 sao of winter corn, if the weather is favorable, the maximum harvest is more than 2 quintals of corn kernels/sao, which can be sold for 1.5 million VND, minus the cost of plowing, fertilizer, seeds, and care, the profit is about 300,000 VND. Moreover, winter crop is mainly for livestock, now there are not many livestock, and mainly feed on stork bran so corn bran and green vegetables are consumed less. These are the reasons why local people are increasingly indifferent to winter crop.
Recalling the period from 2005 to 2008, every year Quynh Luu district produced 1,800 to 1,900 hectares of winter corn alone. This 2011 winter crop, the whole district planned to plant 1,350 hectares of corn, but in reality, only 700 hectares were produced, equal to 56% of the planned target. The total production area of the 2011 winter crop of the district according to the plan was 5,500 hectares, up to now, 2,570 hectares have been planted, equal to 50% of the plan. Of which, 700 hectares of corn, 550 hectares of sweet potatoes, 120 hectares of peanuts and 1,200 hectares of vegetables.
Talking to us, Ms. Vu Bich Hang - Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture of Quynh Luu district, said: In recent years, the winter crop production area of the district has gradually decreased, due to the following reasons: complicated weather, the winter crop in 2010 lost the entire area, people worked and reworked several times but it was washed away by floods, no harvest. Besides, the price of fertilizer materials and input seeds is high, production efficiency has decreased. For corn, it requires high intensive cultivation but the harvest efficiency is not commensurate with the investment, care and fertilization, high risk.
Although the province supported 30% of the corn seed price, and the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district supported an additional 20% for the people, so the corn seed price to farmers was only 50% of the market price, but people were not interested because the efficiency was not high. The 2011 spring crop harvest was 1 month late compared to previous years, leading to a late summer-autumn crop, and the winter crop production was 25 days late, so the varieties planted were also limited due to the short time schedule. Recently, storm No. 2 caused prolonged rain, damaging 195 hectares of newly planted winter corn in the district. The province supported 100% of the cost to buy seeds to re-sow the entire area. In addition, the labor force in the winter crop was less than in other crops, because after finishing the two main rice crops, rural workers concentrated in the southern region.
Right from the beginning of the season, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district established a Winter Crop Production Steering Committee, with members including heads and deputy heads of district departments and offices, each in charge of a commune, directly going to the commune to urge, inspect and supervise people's production. In addition to the province's policies, the district issued policies to encourage people to produce the winter crop such as: supporting 50% of the price of green squash and pumpkin seeds grown on two-rice land, supporting 20% of the price of corn seeds. At the same time, the district's budget was used to support communes to build new planting models and introduce new varieties into production. Support of about 100 million VND was provided for communes to build new production models in the winter crop. Communes with winter corn area of over 50 hectares and exceeding the plan by 10 hectares were rewarded with 1 million VND, and for every additional 10 hectares, they were rewarded with 500,000 VND. However, farmers are still not interested in winter crop production.
Quynh Lan
