Regenerative rice production and warnings

(Baonghean) - Regenerated rice (rice husk) is the choice of many people in the 5-South region (Nam Dan) and is developing in communes with deep and low-lying areas. However, it must be affirmed that this is only a temporary solution, a farming method that is heavily manual and small-scale, hindering food production.

Movement to let rice die

In Trang Nam field, Nam Trung commune, Mr. Hoang Van Son (village 4) after harvesting 4 sao of spring rice still fertilizes the old roots to nourish the dead rice. Mr. Son said: “Previously, some households in the commune also left the rice to die but most of them did not harvest it just to raise ducks or feed buffaloes and cows... But through monitoring many crops in neighboring communes, we saw that the stubble from the previous crop continued to grow strong tillers and flower beautifully. Some households that took good care of the rice had a yield of 90-100 kg of rice per sao, so we learned to follow suit. To grow rice to die, we do not have to compete in the land preparation stage, avoid small-season floods and save seeds and fertilizers. To grow rice to produce high yields, when the rice is about 80% ripe, harvest deeply, leaving about 20cm of the base, and only about 15 days later, the rice will continue to grow tillers. If you intend to grow rice to die, you need to choose the variety right from the beginning of the season; you should use long-term rice varieties that have strong regeneration ability, large bushes, and fast flowering, such as X21, X23, BTE1...”.

Although Nam Trung commune (Nam Dan) has promoted and mobilized, many households still produce regenerated rice.

Nam Trung is a commune in a low-lying area of ​​Nam Dan district, the summer-autumn rice area in recent years often does not meet the target compared to the plan. For example, in the summer-autumn crop of 2012, according to the plan, the commune planted 220 hectares but only planted more than 100 hectares, in addition, people left 70 hectares to nurture dead rice (an increase of 30 hectares compared to 2011); in 2013, the whole commune only planted more than 80 hectares, leaving 160 hectares to nurture dead rice. By 2014, with the drastic direction of the commune, the summer-autumn rice planting area was only 105 hectares (reaching 30% of the plan). Due to the reason of high investment costs, about 500,000 - 600,000 VND/sao, calculating the profit is not worth the effort, so many households let the rice regenerate with a total area of ​​nearly 100 hectares.

According to Mr. Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Chairman of Nam Kim Commune People's Committee (Nam Dan), in the summer-autumn crop of 2011, people only planted 160/447 hectares, the remaining area according to the communes of Duc Tho district was left for dead rice. In the summer-autumn crop of 2013, although the commune had developed a project to the hamlets for implementation, and pumped water right from the beginning of the crop, and regularly propagated on the radio system, people still cared for dead rice on nearly 200 hectares, the rest was left fallow without production. Faced with the above situation, in the summer-autumn crop of 2014, officials of the district's Department of Agriculture had to go to the commune to organize seminars and have direct dialogues with the people; on the commune side, they coordinated with all departments, branches, and organizations to mobilize people to plant summer-autumn rice. After a period of direction, the commune reduced the planned area from 300 hectares to 100 hectares for more drastic direction, as a basis for the following crops. In addition to the district's general support for the 5-southern region, the commune also supported an additional 5,000 VND/kg of P6 mutant rice seeds, spent money to buy biological rat poison (80,000 VND/kg) to kill rats, organized once every 10-15 days. At the same time, it received 4.1 tons of P6 rice seeds to supply to the people, assigned to the commune committee officials to the secretaries and hamlet heads of 21 hamlets to produce summer-autumn rice, on average 2-5 sao. After reducing the area to 100 hectares, some hamlets have closed the assigned area such as Ha Tuy hamlet (10 hectares), Tam Giac hamlet (10 hectares).

And the warnings

Preliminary calculations show that regenerated rice production is beneficial to household economies, but when calculated broadly, social efficiency decreases, requiring more intensive farming techniques to be applied to the winter-spring crop. The argument of Mr. Dinh Hong Quang - Vice Chairman of Nam Trung Commune People's Committee is also worth thinking about: "Regenerated rice is profitable, but if we calculate the total income, it is very low. For example, Nam Trung commune has 100 hectares of regenerated rice, if the average yield is 70 - 80 kg/sao (from 14 - 16 tons/ha), the total output will be 1,400 - 1,600 tons of rice. Meanwhile, concentrated production in the summer-autumn crop gives an average yield of 50 quintals/ha, the total food output will be 5,000 tons. This difference will become social income, because it is the cost of services and labor, which means creating jobs and income for a large number of rural people. The cost includes fertilizers, pesticides, etc., which means promoting the circulation of goods, etc. When discussing this issue, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Khoi also commented: Not every year regenerated rice will yield a harvest. 70 kg/sao, some crops people only get about 30 kg/sao, some areas even have only empty rice, no harvest.

Regenerated rice has two basic limitations. First, it cannot be mechanized in harvesting. To regenerate rice, it must be harvested by hand before the spring crop, not by machine, because it depends heavily on the parent rice. If the stubble is broken, it will grow poorly. Second, it is difficult to put into use high-quality varieties with delicious rice and good yield because these rice varieties often have poor regeneration ability.

According to statistics from the district's Department of Agriculture, from 2011 to 2013, the trend of summer-autumn rice production decreased, some communes did not plant rice such as Nam Cuong and Nam Kim communes; Nam Phuc commune planted 12 hectares/222 hectares, Nam Trung planted less than 100 hectares/257 hectares... In the face of the above situation, the District People's Committee assigned the Department of Agriculture to organize a seminar on planted rice - dead rice in Nam Kim, Nam Trung, Nam Cuong communes, and at the same time step up propaganda and mobilize people to produce summer-autumn rice, not leaving land fallow. At the direct dialogue, people in the communes raised difficulties such as lack of water for production, harmful rats and insects, difficult protection work due to unfocused and fragmented work; high risk, low profit calculation compared to doing other jobs. To thoroughly solve the above problems, the district has proposed solutions: regarding irrigation water, the Irrigation Enterprise is committed to providing enough water for the 5-southern region; regarding pest control caused by rats, funds will be taken from the support source "Protection and development of rice-growing land" for rice-growing localities according to Decree 42/2012/ND-CP dated May 11, 2012 of the Government to support people, with a support level of 25,000 VND/sao. At the same time, the district Plant Protection Station is assigned to monitor and launch timely rat extermination, do a good job of forecasting and forecasting; orient communes to plan into concentrated areas, not separate production to facilitate field protection work... Also at the workshop, the Department of Agriculture made calculations between the two production methods, concentrated production gives 30% higher profits. After direct dialogue, people's thinking has somewhat changed in their perception of summer-autumn crop production; Currently, Nam Kim commune has produced 100 ha/300 ha, Nam Cuong 20 ha/68 ha, Nam Phuc 50 ha/222 ha, Nam Trung 105/257 ha according to plan.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh The - Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture of Nam Dan district added: "Regenerated rice production is a farming method that the district has long advised people not to do, because the immediate benefits are low but the long-term consequences. Regenerated rice is an environment that creates favorable conditions for many pathogens to survive in the fields; the most serious of which is ravaging rats, from the regenerated fields, epidemics will threaten the adjacent summer-autumn rice... For example, in Bau Non area, in the summer-autumn crop of 2012, people left nearly 200 hectares of land fallow, causing armyworms to develop at a very high density, from 300 - 500 insects/m2. In 2014, the district's policy in communes with deep and low-lying areas that cannot produce the summer-autumn crop is that people must plow the land to both increase soil fertility and limit the development of pathogens".

Article and photos:Ngoc Anh