Focus on harvesting the summer-autumn rice crop and planting the winter crop.

DIEN CHAU:

Currently, Dien Chau district is urgently directing communes to suspend all unnecessary meetings and focus on two major tasks: quickly harvesting the summer-autumn rice crop and promptly planting winter crops.

This year, Dien Chau district planted over 9,000 hectares of rice during the summer-autumn season, primarily using short-day, high-yielding, and fairly good-quality purebred rice varieties such as AC5, NA2, BC15, Khang Dan mutant, and some hybrid varieties. At this time last year, the summer-autumn rice in Dien Chau was in the ripening stage, turning yellow in some areas, while this year it is in the peak harvesting season. Before the harvest, the district established a survey team to assess the yield of each commune in order to learn from experience for next year's summer-autumn production season in terms of: variety structure, planting season, fertilizer investment, pest and disease control, etc. Initial assessments suggest that this year's summer-autumn rice crop could achieve an average yield of 54 quintals/hectare, nearly 2 quintals/hectare higher than the 2012 summer-autumn crop.

According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Vinh, Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Dien Chau district, by this time, Dien Chau has harvested 50% of the total rice area; and planted nearly 3,000 hectares out of the planned 7,300 hectares of winter crops. Of this, peanuts have been planted on 400 hectares out of 600 hectares, corn on 2,000 hectares out of 4,000 hectares, and the remainder is various vegetables.

Of the 4,000 hectares of winter corn this year, 1,400 hectares are on land previously used for two rice crops. According to many heads of agricultural service cooperatives, this area may not meet the plan. This is because, according to the policy of the Dien Chau District People's Committee, all communes must complete the land consolidation and exchange plan by the end of December 2013. Most farmers are not enthusiastic about investing in winter corn on land where they are unsure whether it will still belong to them after land consolidation and exchange.

Therefore, Dien Chau district needs to quickly implement decisive measures to direct winter crop production, in order to capitalize on the strengths of the unit, which has a tradition of producing winter crops that is among the best in the province.

QUYNH LUU:

In the summer-autumn and main cropping seasons, Quynh Luu district planted 7,600 hectares of rice, including 5,100 hectares of summer-autumn rice and 2,500 hectares of main crop rice. To date, over 10% of the area has been harvested, with farmers mainly rushing to harvest the summer-autumn rice crop in flood-prone areas covering over 1,500 hectares in the communes of Quynh Thanh, Quynh Giang, Quynh Hung, Quynh Ba, and Quynh Doi… It is known that Quynh Luu primarily cultivates pure rice varieties, accounting for 70% of the planted area, including Khang Dan, BC15, and glutinous rice… with the remainder being short-day hybrid varieties. Thanks to proper technical care and high-quality seeds, this year's harvest is uniformly good, with yields exceeding 52 quintals per sao (approximately 1000 square meters). The summer-autumn rice crop is expected to be harvested by October 5th, and the main crop by October 15th. For the winter crop season this year, Quynh Luu is cultivating over 4,140 hectares, including 1,340 hectares of corn and 1,500 hectares of various vegetables. Currently, over 200 hectares of corn have been planted, and over 250 hectares of vegetables have been rotated. In Tan Son commune alone, more than 30 hectares of winter vegetables have been planted on land previously used for the summer-autumn rice harvest.

Rice harvest in Tang Thanh commune (Yen Thanh district). Photo: VT

YEN THANH:

Thanks to land consolidation across 16 communes, Yen Thanh district has been able to easily introduce mechanization into agricultural production and harvesting. Specifically, this summer-autumn crop season, Yen Thanh has put into use nearly 10 Kubota DC-60 combine harvesters (the largest number in the province), with an operating capacity double that of Chinese and domestically produced machines. Harvesting has already been completed on over 3,000 hectares of rice in the flood-prone areas of Vinh Thanh, Nam Thanh, Long Thanh, Bao Thanh, Lien Thanh, and Khanh Thanh communes. This summer-autumn crop season, Yen Thanh has allocated over 13,000 hectares for rice, with purebred rice varieties accounting for over 70% of the area, mainly the Khang Dan variety. Currently, about 40% of the area has been harvested, with the district planning to complete the harvest by September 15th. For the winter crop season, Yen Thanh has allocated 3,200 hectares, including 1,500 hectares of corn, 600 hectares of sweet potatoes, and 300 hectares of fish for the third crop. The winter crop area is mainly located on land used for two rice crops, so after the harvest is completed, Yen Thanh will start production.

DO LUONG:

To date, Do Luong district has harvested over 2,000 hectares out of 7,000 hectares of summer-autumn rice, mainly in flood-prone areas of Quang Son, Thai Son, Tru Son, Hien Son, and Dai Son communes. Yields are low compared to other districts, averaging around 42 quintals/hectare. This is due to farmers in many localities not focusing on intensive farming to increase productivity. This year, Do Luong has allocated 5,200 hectares for winter crops, including 2,300 hectares of corn, with the remainder being various types of vegetables. To date, Do Luong has planted 300 hectares of vegetables on land previously used for summer-autumn rice in Quang Son, Hien Son, and Thuong Son communes.

Doan Tri Tue - Van Truong