Strictly manage seed supply
(Baonghean) - It is not difficult to see that in Nghe An, in recent consecutive crop seasons, there have been reports in the press of farmers' frustrations about the quality of supplied plant varieties. The obvious consequence is slow growth, affecting productivity and directly affecting farmers' lives.
Present in Xuan Tuong, a purely agricultural commune of Thanh Chuong, in the last days of 2012, farmers were busy taking care of the winter crop and preparing for the 2013 spring rice crop. But when it comes to the 2012 spring rice crop, many farmers are still upset about the rice blast disease that devastated more than 300 hectares of rice. At that time, the whole commune had to concentrate on spraying pesticides to control the disease 5 times, but at the end of the season, rice yield decreased by 20%, and about 20 hectares of rice were almost completely lost. The question here is about the quality of the seeds, because according to local people, under the same weather conditions and using the same rice seeds, farmers in neighboring communes such as Thanh Duong and Ngoc Son still achieved high yields. And what the farmers are more upset about is that the yield decreased but the seed company did not provide any warranty or compensation for them. During the spraying process, only the district's plant protection department came to guide. Mr. Nguyen Phung Lam - Head of Xuan Tuong Agricultural Service Cooperative said: "We are not experts to be able to check whether the seeds are of poor quality or not. But when compared to other localities with the same soil and weather conditions, that rice variety still has blast disease and the problem we are concerned about is still the quality of the seeds."
Regarding the issue of supply and quality of seeds for annual crops, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An has included them in the production organization project for each crop. Based on that, districts, cities and towns develop specific projects. The project clearly stipulates which varieties are put into production. Normally, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development directs localities to put only 5-7 varieties into production and each field should only plant 1-2 varieties with the same growth period for convenient direction in terms of seasonality, care, water management and pest control. According to Mr. Tu Trong Kim - Head of the Cultivation Department, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in Nghe An there are seed suppliers including the Central Seed Joint Stock Company, Vinh branch, Nghe An Seed Company, Agricultural Materials Corporation, Vinh Hoa Company Limited and the Provincial Seed Center. These companies supply more than 60% of the number of seeds in the province. The remaining market share belongs to seed companies in the northern provinces and some countries such as the US, Thailand, and China. Discussing the conditions for being able to supply seeds in Nghe An, Mr. Kim said: “The plant varieties must be officially recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development or trial production must be applied locally. The seed company must also have a good demonstration or testing model in Nghe An that meets the requirements to be able to supply seeds for agricultural production.”
According to Mr. Kim's assessment, the companies all ensure the quality of the supplied seeds, but cannot avoid "risks" such as low germination rate, contamination in the seeds affecting farmers' production, such as the case of poor quality rice seeds supplied to farmers in Hoa Thanh commune, Yen Thanh in the spring crop of 2010 and some communes in Thanh Chuong district in the spring crop of 2011 and hybrid corn seeds in Thanh Chuong in the spring crop of 2012. Therefore, managing seed quality and strictly controlling suppliers' commitments are necessary to avoid risks for farmers.
Thanh Duy
