Despite warnings, farmers in Nghe An sow rice early without covering with plastic.

Currently in Hung Nguyen district, many rice fields have turned green, although the crop calendar says that spring rice will not be planted until January 8-25. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In the spring of 2020, the family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai, a farmer in Yen Phu hamlet, Hung Thinh commune, planted 9 sao of rice fields, of which 5 sao were in low-lying areas, growing long-term rice varieties; Since December 4, she has planted rice. The time of planting coincided with a severe cold spell and was not covered with plastic, so the seedlings did not grow evenly, many patches of rice had white leaves at the seedling stage and died from the cold. Ms. Mai said: "It is estimated that each sao of rice, if covered with plastic, would cost 40,000 VND more. Therefore, to save costs, the family did not cover the seedling beds with plastic but only covered the outside to prevent rats."

This spring crop, the entire Hung Thinh commune has up to 40/210 hectares of long-term rice varieties, so from the beginning of December, people have started sowing rice seedlings. Mr. Nguyen Thuc Nghi - Deputy Head of Hung Thinh Agricultural Cooperative said: "Due to the characteristics of Hung Thinh as a farming area, deep and low-lying fields account for 20% of the rice production area. In these areas, to avoid the risk of floods, people have planted long-term rice varieties, sowing early so that if the weather is unfavorable and the rice plants die, they can replace them with short-term rice varieties. Because the rice varieties are purebred and have good cold resistance, people do not cover them with plastic."

At this time, in some communes such as Hung Phuc, Hung Nhan, Hung Khanh, Hung Phu... the seedlings have also turned green in many rice fields and most of them are not covered with plastic. Therefore, the seedlings grow poorly, and when exposed to the cold, many seedlings dry out and die, with many patches having up to 70% white leaves.

Sowing rice seedlings early, not following the crop calendar, not following the variety structure, and not covering the seedlings with plastic leads to many consequences. According to the assessment from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the spring crop of 2019, in localities where rice areas were planted earlier than the crop calendar, during the flowering stage, the rice heads were degenerated, the grains were black and flat, and the rice yield of the early-planted crop decreased by 500 kg - 1,400 kg/ha compared to the crop planted according to the crop calendar, equivalent to a decrease of 3,000,000 - 8,400,000 VND/ha. In addition, the introduction of long-term rice varieties into the structure led to late harvest, affecting summer-autumn crop production, making it susceptible to storms and floods causing damage.

Of the same variety, tea seedlings covered with plastic grow and develop well and are more resistant to pests and diseases than uncovered tea seedlings. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Mr. Phan Duy Hai - Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection recommended: “Currently, in the province, there are some early-sown rice seedlings, mainly in Hung Nguyen, about 1.2 hectares of seedlings and 30 hectares of direct-sown rice seedlings. Early sowing violates the province's crop calendar, and putting long-term varieties into production is not in accordance with the structure of the production plan. That leads to the risk of rice blooming being exposed to cold weather, reducing productivity, and even crop failure. In particular, recently, when there is no longer a support policy, many places where farmers do not apply plastic covering for rice seedlings will be damaged by rats, the seedlings will be stunted with black stripes, white-backed planthoppers, etc., affecting the growth and development of rice plants, reducing productivity and production value”.

In the spring crop of 2020, the crop schedule includes the following 3 basic groups of varieties:

- Group 1 (varieties with growing period from 140 - 145 days): Sow seedlings fromJanuary 8-13; transplanting from January 28-31 (transplanting from January 4th of the lunar calendar).

- Group 2 (varieties with growing period from 130 - 135 days): Sow seedlings fromJanuary 15 - 20; transplanting February 4 - 9.

- Group 3 (varieties with a growing period of around 125 days): SowingSeedling from January 20 - 25; transplanting from February 9 - 14.

Thanh Phuc