The whole province urgently planted summer-autumn rice.

(Baonghean) -In many localities in the province, the spring rice has been harvested; farmers are returning to the fields, urgently producing the summer-autumn crop as early as possible to have a successful crop.

In the fields of Dien An commune (Dien Chau), the summer-autumn production atmosphere has been bustling for nearly a week now. Ms. Pham Thi Xuan (village 12) happily said: The family's spring rice area was harvested last week, after harvesting, the land was prepared for planting immediately, because the summer-autumn rice seedlings were planted on May 7 and now have 4-5 leaves and are growing very well. Of the 5 sao of summer-autumn rice, this crop, Ms. Xuan mainly planted Khang Dan rice variety to have high yield for livestock farming. There are still more than 1 sao of peanuts in the field that have not been harvested, but she still lingered, planting summer-autumn rice first to ensure harvest before August 30 to avoid flooding at the end of the crop.

According to Ms. Hoang Thi Huong - Vice Chairman of Dien Chau District People's Committee: This year's summer-autumn crop is identified by the district as a difficult production crop, while at the end of the crop, it is forecasted that many natural disasters and risks will occur. Currently, the water source in the dams is lower than last year and also lower than the average of the same period in many years. Therefore, the district advocates directing safe and effective summer-autumn production, using short-term varieties with high productivity and commodity value, sowing as early as possible to avoid pests and floods. The whole district strives to sow 9,000 hectares of rice, 2,150 hectares of sesame...

In the 2012 summer-autumn crop, due to slow spring rice growth, Dien Chau was not harvested until September 10, and some areas were damaged by floods. This year, spring rice was harvested 10-15 days earlier than in previous years, so it was quite favorable for early summer-autumn planting. "Depending on the growth period of each variety, we arrange a suitable crop schedule, but we all strive to harvest before August 30," said Ms. Huong. In areas that are often flooded such as Dien Tho, Dien Phu, Dien Truong, Dien Hoang..., people started sowing rice seedlings on April 25. Considered the earliest locality to "go to the fields" in the district, farmers in Dien Tho commune started planting on May 20. In addition, in other communes such as Dien Cat, Dien An, Dien Hoang..., people have also focused on going to the fields to sow rice; As of April 24, the entire district had planted about 25% of the area, and is expected to complete planting before May 30.

Summer-autumn rice planting in Dien An (Dien Chau).

In Thanh Chuong - a locality considered to have achieved a fairly comprehensive victory in the last spring crop, the summer-autumn production atmosphere has also been bustling. Next to the field that had just been harvested, Mr. Tran Dinh Huynh (Ngoc Dinh hamlet - Ngoc Son commune) happily said: "My family's 9 sao of rice started harvesting on May 16, the yield was over 3.3 quintals/sao. The summer-autumn seedlings were planted on May 10, just waiting for a few more days of water to be planted, striving to finish before May 30". This crop, Thanh Chuong planted 5,500 hectares of rice, keeping the same area as previous years, in addition to 2,000 hectares of green beans and some other crops such as corn and peanuts to be used as seeds for the 2014 spring crop in high areas, not flooded.

Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee - Mr. Phan Dinh Ha said: "Thanh Chuong's motto for summer-autumn rice cultivation is to take advantage of the maximum time, to plant rice wherever water is available, not to "try" in areas without proactive irrigation water. In addition to the main direction of using rice varieties under 100 days, the district thoroughly implements the spirit of planting seedlings, absolutely not sowing directly. Seedlings are sown when the rice is half ripe, so as soon as the spring rice harvest and land preparation is completed, they can be planted immediately. Currently, most of the seedling area has 3-4 leaves, it is expected that in May the whole district will be able to plant 40-50% of the area, the rest will be completed before June 5". Over the past many years, Thanh Chuong has been flooded almost every year, especially in the deep-lying areas of Xuan Lam and Bich Hao, but thanks to the short-term variety structure and strict adherence to the crop calendar, the damage caused by floods has been greatly reduced.

Up to now, the spring rice area in the whole province has been basically harvested, the summer-autumn seedlings have also come out. Particularly, more than 2,000 hectares of summer-autumn rice that was flooded have been planted for nearly a week now, in all localities people are concentrating on the fields. According to Mr. Ho Ngoc Sy (Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development), this year's summer-autumn production is very favorable in terms of seasonality. Besides arranging the early crop calendar, the weather factor is also a reason for the spring rice harvest to be 10-15 days earlier than every year. Up to now, in general, the work of preparing seeds and land preparation has been carried out quite well by localities. Many localities such as Thanh Chuong, Do Luong, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu... have closely followed the province's crop calendar in directing production. With this planting progress, it is hoped that this year's summer-autumn rice will be harvested about 10 days earlier than every year, limiting the risk of damage caused by floods.

According to the recommendations of the Department of Agriculture, localities and people should only plant rice in areas that can be actively irrigated, at least through the rice flowering period, and the rest should be switched to planting other crops that require less water. In the summer-autumn production project, the agricultural sector also advocates converting an additional 3,000 hectares of summer-autumn rice to winter-spring rice production to take advantage of rainwater resources, increasing the winter-spring rice area to 42,000 hectares and reducing the summer-autumn rice area to 55,000 hectares.

Article and photos: Phu Huong