Responsibility towards farmers?

(Baonghean)As harvest season approaches, crop failure has occurred again in Yen Thanh, Quynh Luu, and Dien Chau districts, affecting BC15 rice varieties. The BC15 rice variety was sown according to the correct schedule and cared for using proper techniques. The plants developed normally without pests or diseases, but the grains were empty upon flowering.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, this winter-spring crop season, the BC15 rice variety was planted on 10,000 hectares throughout the province (approximately over 400 tons of seed), mainly in the Dien-Yen-Quynh region (Quynh Luu alone planted 60-70% of the area), of which 2,000 hectares were affected. There is no conclusion yet regarding the cause of the crop failure of the BC15 rice variety, but farmers are currently very worried and anxious. The Plant Protection Sub-department has inspected the area and concluded that there were no pests or diseases. The Thai Binh Seed and Crop Corporation, the supplier of the BC15 rice seeds, has offered a strange conclusion: the phenomenon of empty grains in the rice panicles is due to acid rain.

Agricultural experts in Nghe An province were not very enthusiastic about the BC15 rice variety because it was created from the IR17494 variety, which has many disadvantages: its husk cracks, making it susceptible to pests and diseases, it is prone to blast disease, and it has poor cold tolerance. To overcome these shortcomings, agricultural engineer Dang Tieu Binh at the Agricultural Extension and Testing Center in Thai Binh province found a genetically modified strain to create the BC15 rice variety. It is unclear whether the experimental process for introducing the BC15 rice variety into mass production was verified by any central agency, and whether its introduction to Nghe An was inspected and supervised by relevant authorities. Or was it only after a problem occurred that blame was shifted around? We still advocate for the collaboration of three parties: "Farmers, the State, and Scientists," but was this collaboration truly implemented in the introduction of the BC15 rice variety to Nghe An?

Crop failure due to rice varieties is not a new phenomenon in Nghe An province. Remember in 2005, the Q.Uu I rice variety caused crop failure in Dien Chau and Thanh Chuong districts, with rice plants dying en masse. Every year, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development conducts inspections of seeds circulating in the market, but for some reason, crop failure due to seeds continues to occur. Public opinion is questioning the responsibility of state management agencies, specialized agencies, and scientists towards farmers in the widespread crop failure caused by the BC15 rice variety. Will the Thai Binh Seed Corporation adequately compensate farmers for their losses, or will they once again blame a strange cause – an "acid rain" – to evade responsibility?

Tran Hong Co