"Green home is better than old field"

(Baonghean) -The floods from September 9 to 14 caused considerable damage to the summer-autumn rice crop. However, in addition to unpredictable natural disasters, there were also subjective causes from the farmers themselves and the lack of strong leadership from localities. After heavy rains, people had to focus on harvesting rice with the motto "green at home is better than ripe in the fields".

Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoi's family - Hamlet 7 - Hung Dao (Hung Nguyen) has 10 sao of rice fields. Due to the late spring harvest and direct sowing, the rice has just begun to bloom. During the recent flood, his family's entire rice field was submerged nearly 1.5m deep, and was considered a total loss.

This summer-autumn crop, Hung Nguyen district planted 5,700 hectares of rice, but during the flood from September 9-14, up to 1,066 hectares were flooded. This area is mainly in the communes of Hung Loi, Hung Thinh, Hung Dao, Hung Yen, Hung Trung and the town, of which the largest is Hung Trung with 300 hectares, Hung Yen with 200 hectares and Hung Dao with 100 hectares.

Yen Thanh farmers urgently harvest summer-autumn rice to avoid floods.

In addition to the cause of prolonged heavy rains and a large amount of water flowing from Nam Dan, according to agricultural experts, another equally important cause of heavy damage to Hung Nguyen in this flood is the habit of sowing rice directly. Before the flood, Hung Nguyen had harvested more than 500 hectares in higher communes such as Hung Linh, Hung Long, Hung Nhan, Hung Xa... Mr. Phan Van Truong - Head of the District's Agriculture Department said: More than 500 hectares were harvested before the flood thanks to people planting seedlings early in accordance with the instructions of the agricultural sector and the locality. Nearly 1,000 hectares of rice were completely lost, mainly in areas that were sown directly, the crop was delayed, so the rice is currently in the green stage.

According to Mr. Nguyen Tho Canh - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, due to the special natural conditions, our province always recommends that farmers do not sow rice directly. Especially in the summer-autumn crop this year, the seasonality is very tense because the spring rice is harvested late, so even before the spring rice has been harvested, the Department of Agriculture has given very strong instructions, absolutely not sowing directly to transplant summer-autumn rice. Transplanting will help the rice plants have 2-3 more weeks to grow in the seedling field, plus the restructuring of short-term rice varieties, will help farmers to harvest rice before September 15. However, despite great efforts by the Department of Agriculture and localities, in localities such as Nghi Loc and Hung Nguyen, the area of ​​​​directly sown rice has still decreased insignificantly. According to Mr. Canh, in the delta districts, through this flood, it has been shown that the places where summer-autumn production is directly sown will suffer the most damage and vice versa. This can be seen very clearly in Yen Thanh. Due to the flood, Yen Thanh has about 1,500 hectares of rice flooded, but the rice has basically started to ripen. Head of the district's Agriculture Department - Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc said: Of the more than 1,500 hectares of flooded rice, only about 70-80 hectares are deeply flooded and are likely to be completely lost, the remaining yield will only decrease by about 30%, and the average yield is expected to still reach 57-58 quintals/ha.

Currently, our province is directing localities to focus on harvesting 80% or more of the rice fields that are deeply flooded. For areas that are flooded up to the neck, people should be mobilized to go to the fields to harvest as soon as the weather clears up without waiting for the rice to fully ripen. However, people must pay close attention to the issue of post-harvest handling and preservation, when the rice has been soaked in water. It is known that the province has a mechanism for building agricultural drying kilns, mainly for the winter crop. These kilns can be used for the summer-autumn crop, which is a crop that often experiences flooding at the end of the crop. However, in most localities, there are almost no drying kilns. Mr. Nguyen Sy Hung - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee said: Currently, the district is focusing on directing people to cover the rice with tarps and set it up after harvesting. When threshing is finished, they must spread tarps and spread the rice out so that the rice does not sprout. The collapsed rice fields will continue to be built up to limit the long soaking in water. The construction of agricultural drying kilns according to the province's policy is very difficult to implement because the support funding is too limited compared to actual requirements.

According to the forecast of the National Center for Hydrometeorology, the weather will be sunny this weekend. Localities must focus on mobilizing people to actively dredge canals, clear water flows, and drain water. According to the recommendations of the Department of Agriculture, because this year's rainy season comes late, it is likely that this will not be the last rain, so people should not be subjective but must urgently focus on harvesting summer-autumn rice, with the motto "green at home is better than old in the fields". In areas of growing vegetables, focus on fertilizing, plowing and continuing to grow winter crops. At the same time, closely monitor the situation of pests and diseases in green rice areas and diseases in livestock, not allowing diseases to occur after the water recedes.

Phu Huong