With the spring rice harvest in full swing, combine harvesters are in short supply in certain areas.

Many households in Hamlet 5, Nam Giang Commune (Nam Dan District) have assigned people to wait for the combine harvester from 6 am to 11 am, but it's still not their turn. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In the fields of Hamlet 5, Nam Giang Commune (Nam Dan District), it's not uncommon to see people lining up for combine harvesters. Mr. Nguyen Van Quy from Hamlet 5, Nam Giang Commune, said: “My family cultivates 1.3 acres of rice paddies, but we've only harvested 2.5 acres so far. More than 1 acre is still waiting for the harvester. We've been waiting for the harvester for two days now, and this morning they finally harvested 2 acres of ripe glutinous rice.”

From 6 a.m., Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huong from Hamlet 5, Nam Giang Commune, carried her sack and cycled to the fields to wait for the combine harvester. Even at 11 a.m., it still hadn't been her turn. Mrs. Huong sighed, "Growing rice is hard work, putting in so much effort. Now, having to rely on the machine for harvesting is just as difficult. My family cultivates 8 sao (approximately 0.8 hectares) of rice, and we've only harvested a little over 1 sao. The rice is ripe, so we need to take advantage of the strong sunshine to harvest and dry it, because if it rains, it will be a disaster. Besides, after harvesting, we need to use the time to prepare the land for planting the summer-autumn crop to avoid floods and storms."

There's only one combine harvester in the entire vast field. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In Hamlet 5, Nam Giang Commune, there are only one or two combine harvesters covering dozens of hectares, so people have to queue up to wait for their turn.

“A week ago, I brought three combine harvesters here. There were about 7-9 combine harvesters in this field, but the rice wasn't fully ripe yet; only a few plots were. Therefore, we had to move to other fields to work. Now that the rice is fully ripe, coinciding with other fields, only one machine is working, and we can't meet the demand,” said Thai Doan Lam, a combine harvester owner from Nghi Van commune (Nghi Loc district), who was harvesting in a field in Nam Giang commune (Nam Dan district).

Even before the combine harvester finished its work, many households were already standing there with sacks, begging the owner to come and harvest their fields. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In response to this situation, the Nam Giang commune authorities dispatched commune officials to coordinate with the commune police to work with the rice harvesters and combine harvester owners, emphasizing that they must harvest all the rice from the designated area and not "selectively choose fields".

In Nghi Lam commune (Nghi Loc district), the shortage of harvesting machines is also localized. Currently, 40 hectares of rice in Hamlet 8 are ripe, but no harvesting machines have arrived yet, and the people are waiting. "The whole field is vast, the rice is ripe, and the summer solstice is coming soon. We're worried we won't be able to harvest in time, and if it rains, it will be a complete crop failure," said a resident of Hamlet 8.

Many machine owners said they worked at full capacity from morning till night but still couldn't meet the demand of the people. Photo: Thanh Phuc

According to information from Nghi Lam commune, although before the harvest season, based on people's registrations, the commune contacted and connected with combine harvester owners in other areas to bring machines in, the machines have not arrived in time due to the peak harvest season and overlapping fields in many places. They will try to arrange for machines to arrive tomorrow to help people harvest on schedule.

There are also cases like in some rice-growing areas of Anh Son district, where, due to the variety of rice varieties, the rice does not ripen simultaneously, but only in scattered plots, so many combine harvester owners are reluctant to bring their machines there.

“Many rice-growing areas have different varieties of rice, so some fields ripen earlier, some later. It's inconvenient to move the rice plants, costly to transport the harvesting machines, and the limited area means many machine owners don't want to come here. In some areas, the fields are far away and in poor condition, causing harvesting machines to sink, break down, and become difficult to harvest, so they avoid it. These are also reasons for the shortage of harvesting machines,” a village official in Linh Son commune (Anh Son district) explained.

In many areas, due to the variety of rice varieties within the same paddy field, some plots ripen earlier than others; in some places, the fields are far away, of poor quality, and the rice has fallen over, making it very difficult to bring in harvesting machines. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In Thanh Chuong district, some rice fields have ripened, but harvesting machines are scarce, so even working day and night, they cannot meet the needs of the people.

Mr. Nguyen The Hung, owner of two combine harvesters in Thanh Nho commune, said: “Currently, the number of harvesters in the fields is not as scarce as in previous years. However, because the rice ripened all at once, the machines cannot meet the needs of the people. Currently, a workday for us harvesters starts at 5 am and lasts until 11 pm or midnight. At peak times, each machine with a team of four harvesters can harvest up to ten acres of rice fields in a single day.”

According to the survey, the price for machine harvesting services ranges from 160,000 to 200,000 VND per sao (depending on the terrain, whether the field is muddy or dry, and whether the rice is standing or lodged). This price is the same as last year.

Due to high labor costs for bagging, transportation, and driver's assistants, the price of machine harvesting services remains unchanged compared to last year, even though fuel prices have fallen. Photo: Thanh Phuc

"Although oil prices have dropped sharply compared to last year, labor costs (for bagging and machine operators) are much higher than in previous years (around 500,000-700,000 VND/person/day), not to mention the peak heat wave which reduces labor productivity. Therefore, even with lower oil prices, harvesting prices cannot fall significantly," Mr. Hung added.

Thanh Phuc