Farmers in the 'flood-flooded' area in Nghe An harvest spring rice early

Farmers in Nghi Dong commune (Nghi Loc) have been harvesting rice in the fields for the past three days. Photo: Phu Huong

Nghi Dong commune has 392 hectares of rice, of which 20 hectares are in the flooded summer-autumn area. People have been harvesting for 3 days now. There are 3 sao of glutinous rice and VTNA6 rice, and in just 1 day, Mr. Nguyen Van Hung's family in hamlet 1 finished harvesting. "The yield reached 3.2 quintals/sao, higher than last year thanks to less pests and diseases, and adequate irrigation water," Mr. Hung said excitedly.

Mr. Tran Ba ​​Chinh - agricultural officer of Nghi Dong commune said: The commune is located at the end of Nghi Quang bar system, every time there is a flood, water flows from many places, so every year people have to harvest early in the spring crop to ensure that the summer-autumn rice is sown and harvested before August 30. This year's spring crop, the rice yield is expected to reach 62-63 quintals/ha.

Rice has been harvested in the hamlet outside the dike of Chau Nhan commune, Hung Nguyen district. Photo: Phu Huong

In Hung Nguyen district, some low-lying communes along the Lam River have also started the crop. Mr. Vo Van Thanh's family in Hamlet 1, Chau Nhan Commune has 4 sao of rice that began harvesting on April 30, with a yield of 2.4-2.5 quintals/sao.

Being an area outside the dike, which is heavily affected by floods every year, Mr. Thanh planted rice seedlings 10 days ago. “In a few days, when the rice harvest is over, I will prepare the land to plant the summer-autumn crop, ensuring harvest before August 25,” Mr. Thanh said.

Seedlings for the summer-autumn crop were also sown on April 20. Photo: Phu Huong

Nghe An has nearly 7,000 hectares of first-season rice, which bloomed from late March to early April, and has now begun to be harvested. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Lap - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the weather is currently complicated, the transitional season, preparing for the small harvest season, often has floods, so people need to urgently go to the fields to harvest when the rice is about 75-80% ripe according to the motto "green house is better than old field", especially in deep and low-lying areas.

“This year is a leap year, so for areas that have already begun harvesting, farmers should let the land rest for 7-10 days after harvesting, giving time for the straw to decompose and reduce organic poisoning, especially in low-lying fields and poor soil,” Mr. Lap advised.