Farmers in the 'flood-flooded' area of Nghe An harvest spring rice early
(Baonghean.vn) - It will be about half a month before Nghe An's spring rice crop begins its peak harvest, but in many low-lying areas, people have already gone to the fields to harvest rice to "escape the flood" and sow the summer-autumn crop.
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| Farmers in Nghi Dong commune (Nghi Loc) have been harvesting rice in the fields for the past 3 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 happily.
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.
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| 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.
As the area outside the dike is heavily affected by floods every year, Mr. Thanh planted rice seedlings 10 days ago. "In a few days, when the rice harvest is finished, I will prepare the land to plant the summer-autumn crop, ensuring harvest before August 25," said Mr. Thanh.
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| Seedlings for the summer-autumn crop were also sown on April 20. Photo: Phu Huong |
Nghe An has nearly 7,000 hectares of first-crop 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, following the motto "green at home is better than ripe in the fields", especially in deep-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.