Spring rice harvest season in full swing, harvesters are locally scarce

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

In the fields of Hamlet 5, Nam Giang Commune (Nam Dan), it is not difficult to see people lining up to wait for the harvester. Mr. Nguyen Van Quy in Hamlet 5, Nam Giang Commune said: “My family has 1.3 hectares of rice fields but has only harvested 2.5 sao. There is still more than 1 mau waiting for the harvester. After following the harvester for 2 days, this morning they have only harvested 2 sao of ripe sticky rice.”

From 6am, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huong in Hamlet 5, Nam Giang Commune, carried a bag and cycled to the field to catch the harvester. Waiting until 11am, her turn still hadn't come. Mrs. Huong was frustrated: "It's hard to get rice, it takes a lot of effort. Now it's time to harvest, I have to rely on the machine, it's just as hard. My family has 8 sao of rice, but we've only harvested more than 1 sao. The rice is all ripe, we should take advantage of the hot sun, harvest it and dry it, but if it rains, it will be miserable. Besides, after harvesting, we can take advantage of the time to prepare the land to sow the summer-autumn crop to avoid floods and storms."

The whole vast field has only one harvester. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The entire field of several dozen hectares in hamlet 5, Nam Giang commune, has only 1-2 harvesters, so people have to line up and wait their turn.

“A week ago, I brought 3 harvesters here, the total number of harvesters in this field is about 7-9 harvesters, but the rice is not yet ripe, only a few fields are ripe. Therefore, we have to move to another field to work. Now the rice is ripe, overlapping with another field, so there is only 1 machine working, unable to meet the needs of the people”, said Mr. Thai Doan Lam - harvester owner in Nghi Van commune (Nghi Loc) who is harvesting in the field of Nam Giang commune (Nam Dan).

The harvester has not yet finished harvesting, but many households are already waiting with bags in their hands, begging the machine owner to come harvest their fields. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Faced with this situation, the Nam Giang commune government sent commune officials to coordinate with the commune police to work with the field leaders and harvester owners, thoroughly instructing them to harvest all areas and not to "choose fields".

In Nghi Lam commune (Nghi Loc), the shortage of machines also occurs locally. Currently, 40 hectares of rice in hamlet 8 have ripened but no harvesters have arrived yet, people are waiting for machines. "The whole field is vast, the rice is ripe, and the harvest season is about to begin, the only worry is that we won't be able to harvest in time, if it rains, it will be considered a crop failure", said a resident of hamlet 8.

Many machine owners said they worked at full capacity from morning to night but still could not meet people's needs. Photo: Thanh Phuc

According to information from Nghi Lam commune, although before the harvest season, based on the registration of the people, the commune contacted and connected with harvester owners in other areas to bring the machines back, but because it is the peak harvest season, the fields overlap in many places, so the machines have not arrived in time. Tomorrow, we will try to mobilize the machines to help people harvest on schedule.

There are also cases like in some rice fields in Anh Son district, due to the structure of many different rice varieties, they do not ripen at the same time, but only a few fields ripen first, so many harvester owners do not want to bring the machines back.

“There are many areas where many types of crops are grown, so some fields ripen first, some later. It takes time to move the fields, costs money to transport the machines, and the area is small, so many machine owners do not want to return. In some areas, the fields are far away and bad, so the harvesters often sink, break down, and are difficult to harvest, so they "avoid". Those are also the reasons leading to the shortage of machines", said a village official in Linh Son commune (Anh Son).

In many places, due to the same rice fields, there are many types of rice varieties, some fields ripen first, some ripen later; in some places, the fields are far away, bad, the rice has fallen over, making it difficult to mobilize machines to harvest. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In Thanh Chuong district, some areas have ripened rice, but harvesters are scarce, so even though harvesters work day and night, they still cannot meet the needs of the people.

Mr. Nguyen The Hung - owner of 2 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 is ripening at the same time, the machines cannot meet the needs of the people. Currently, a working day for us harvesters starts at 5am and lasts until 11-12pm. At peak times, there are days when each machine with a team of 4 workers harvests up to a dozen hectares of rice fields."

According to the survey, the price of harvesting machine service ranges from 160,000-200,000 VND/sao (depending on the terrain, whether the field is swampy or dry, standing rice or fallen rice). This price is equal to last year.

The cost of labor, transportation, and assistant drivers is high, so even though the price of oil has decreased, the price of harvester services has not decreased compared to last year. Photo: Thanh Phuc

“Although oil prices have dropped sharply compared to last year, labor costs (bundlers and machine operators) are much higher than previous years (about 500,000-700,000 VND/person/day), not to mention the peak heat, which has reduced labor productivity. Therefore, even if oil prices drop, harvesting prices cannot drop significantly,” Mr. Hung added.