Risk of drought in spring crop production 2016

(Baonghean) - The whole province is preparing for the 2016 spring crop. This is the main crop of the year with more than 85,000 hectares of rice, over 12,000 hectares of corn, about 22,000 hectares of peanuts, 24,000 hectares of sugarcane and several other crops.

Spring rice planting in Hung Nguyen

In recent years, the weather in Nghe An has been increasingly hot and sunny, temperatures have increased significantly, the number of days with severe cold has decreased, rainfall during the rainy and stormy season (from the end of August to the end of October every year) has also decreased sharply and storms and floods have rarely occurred. Agricultural production in the spring of 2016 is forecast to face many great difficulties.

It will be a warmer spring than in many years.

The 2016 spring crop is forecasted to be a warm spring with air temperatures higher than the average of many years (TBNN) and possibly higher than the 2015 spring crop. If the air temperature is as forecasted, the 2016 spring crop will face many disadvantages for agricultural production, namely: The growing period of crops will be shortened, especially rice and corn. How many days it will be shortened depends on the air temperature on each day and throughout the spring (from January to March).

Particularly, shortening the growth period of rice plants can easily lead to early flowering, and cold weather during Qingming festival can seriously reduce rice yield, even causing total loss of harvest. Warm spring crops also cause pests and diseases to thrive (rice blast, brown planthoppers, stem borers, etc.).

Production faced severe drought

Total rainfall from January to September 2015 only reached 1,046.15 mm, lower than the average of the first 9 months of the year by 219.35 mm and lower than the first 9 months of 2014 by 193.41 mm. In Nghe An, the rainy season is concentrated from the end of August to the end of October every year. In which, September is the month with the highest average rainfall of the year (about 520 - 550 mm). However, the rainfall in September this year only reached an average of 334.96 mm, equal to 64 - 65% of the average rainfall in September in many years. According to the forecast of the Meteorological - Hydrological sector, the rainfall in the remaining 3 months of 2015 is insignificant.

Therefore, the water reserve in the total of 625 large and small lakes and dams in the whole province currently has no lake or dam with a water level of 80% or more of the design capacity. According to the statistical results, currently the whole province has only 14 lakes and dams with a water reserve of over 70% of the design capacity, 5 lakes and dams with a water level of 50 - 70% of the design capacity, 28 lakes and dams with a water level of less than 50% of the design capacity and the remaining lakes and dams have an insignificant water reserve. The water source in the lakes and dams is like that, while the water source on Lam River serves the natural flow irrigation for Dien - Yen - Quynh area and serves the irrigation water for the Nam - Hung - Nghi power pumping area since the beginning of the year, the water level has always been maintained at a level lower than the average of the same period from 38 - 203 mm and lower than the same period in 2014 from 18 - 93 cm. In fact, the current water reserves in dams and water flow on Lam River are really worrying for the 2016 spring crop production.

The possibility of rain and even storms in the coming days is very unlikely. Because El Nino is currently operating off the Pacific Ocean from June 2015 to the end of March 2016, causing great impacts on the Central and Central Highlands provinces of our country.

Therefore, to achieve high productivity in the 2016 spring crop, localities and farmers need to proactively implement the following measures:

One, check and estimate the area that is likely to have irrigation water in which fields and how many hectares are unlikely to have irrigation water in which fields. From there, proactively plan specific production for each type of crop. It is absolutely not necessary to plant rice if there is really no active irrigation water source and on this area, boldly switch to growing corn, beans or peanuts early. All three of these crops must also be planted as soon as possible to prevent and combat soil drought, air drought and early Lao winds.

Second, in areas with proactive irrigation water sources, rice should be grown. However, only short-term rice varieties with a growing period of no more than 135 days should be grown to reduce the number of waterings, limit pests and diseases, and must be rice varieties with good yield, good quality rice, less susceptible to pests and diseases and have wide adaptability.

Each hamlet, village, and commune should only plant 2-3 rice varieties, each rice variety should be planted in a concentrated area for convenience in planting, care, and pest and disease prevention.

Third, use irrigation water very economically, especially in lakes, dams, and areas with electric pumps. In these areas, shallow irrigation - exposed - exposed or regular shallow irrigation (water level from 3 - 5 cm) is enough. Deep irrigation not only limits rice germination, wastes water, and weakens the rice plants.

Fourth, because the spring crop is likely to be warm, high temperature, little rain, so it is necessary to fertilize early, concentrated fertilization, mainly heavy basal fertilization before transplanting so that the rice plants can grow quickly, calve early, and calve concentratedly. At the same time, only NPK 16.16.8 fertilizer should be used as basal fertilization at about 13 - 15 kg/sao and NPK 15.5.20 fertilizer should be used for fertilization of calving rice at 8 - 10 kg/sao and for fertilization of rice in panicle formation at 5 - 7 kg/sao. Farmers should not use single fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium separately) for fertilization, which can easily cause unbalanced fertilization and reduce rice yield.

Warm spring crop years are the years when spring rice is very susceptible to early-season blast disease, brown planthoppers, leaf rollers and stem borers that develop strongly in March and April. The above-mentioned pests and diseases need to be regularly monitored, combined with forecasts from the plant protection industry to promptly detect early and spray pesticides as soon as they appear.

Doan Tri Tue