Proactively manage the summer-autumn rice crop.

For the 2024 Summer-Autumn rice crop, the entire province plans to plant 35,000 hectares.

Currently, the 2024 Summer-Autumn rice crop is in its second planting phase. To avoid damage from drought and salinity, farmers have proactively shifted their crop structure, planting the Summer-Autumn rice crop according to a concentrated planting schedule to simultaneously "avoid pests" and "avoid salinity" in each area.

According to the agricultural sector, in light of the increasingly severe impacts of climate change and to minimize damage during production, especially during the dry season, drought, and salinity,

In recent times, the agricultural sector has focused on disseminating information to the public about weather developments during the production season; thereby enabling them to proactively prevent and avoid damage to production and livelihoods, and to proactively respond to drought and saltwater intrusion.

Specifically, for the 2024 Summer-Autumn rice crop, the agricultural sector has advised farmers to arrange planting schedules to focus on "avoiding pests," simultaneously across each area. Areas at risk of salinity should plant earlier or later to "avoid salinity" at the end and beginning of the season.

In addition, the agricultural sector also advises farmers to use 80% high-quality rice varieties, certified varieties, or equivalent, and to limit the cultivation of low-quality varieties. These include key rice varieties with wide adaptability and good domestic and export potential: OM5451, OM4900, OM 6976, Dai Thom 8, OM18, etc. Supplementary varieties that adapt well to drought and salinity include: OM 2517, OM 9577, OM 9955, etc.

Having just planted 4 acres of rice for the Summer-Autumn crop on March 20th, Mr. Nguyen Van Ba (Phuoc Hau commune, Long Ho district) said: “Before planting the rice, I followed the recommendations of the agricultural sector, plowed under the straw, thoroughly cleaned the fields, and adhered to the planting schedule to avoid pests and drought.”

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Vu (Trung Hieu commune, Vung Liem district) also said: “For this summer-autumn rice crop, I have arranged for a pump to be on standby to pump water into the fields and irrigation ditches. Currently, it is the hot season, and after the winter-spring rice harvest, the fields are dry. Maintaining water in the fields both softens the soil and kills weeds. On the other hand, this water storage also provides a buffer in case of drought, ensuring there is enough water to irrigate the rice fields.”

According to the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, this year's weather and climate conditions, characterized by intense heat and drought, are very favorable for rice pests and diseases during the seedling stage, especially thrips, which will cause severe damage. Thrips damage causes leaves to curl at the tips, wilt, shrivel, and turn yellow. This is particularly severe in fields with low water levels.

In addition, the risk of organic poisoning in rice fields due to rushed planting can lead to an increased rate of disease infection. Furthermore, attention should be paid to rats in the newly sown stage, weeds, rice stem borers in the tillering stage, whiteflies, brown spot disease, leaf blight in the heading stage, golden apple snails, etc.

To ensure a successful 2024 Summer-Autumn rice crop, according to Mr. Nguyen Vinh Phuc , Head of the Crop Production and Plant Protection Sub-Department (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development), for areas preparing for planting, after harvesting the Winter-Spring rice crop, farmers need to thoroughly clean the fields, removing weeds, stubble, and wild grass around the field edges, plow and harrow thoroughly, and ensure a minimum 14-day quarantine period.

In particular, areas where summer-autumn rice is planted without ensuring the required quarantine period should be sprayed with Trichoderma fungi and fertilized with phosphorus fertilizer immediately after the final land preparation to limit organic toxicity. Lime treatment, pumping and draining water to wash the soil should be applied to areas at high risk of organic toxicity.

In particular, strengthen salinity monitoring and recommend appropriate crop production to cope with drought and salinity conditions. For rice crops that are vulnerable to damage during the seedling and flowering stages, if salinity exceeds 1‰, do not flood the fields; when using water to mix pesticides for spraying, use water that is not contaminated with salt (less than 0.8‰).

Simultaneously, it has been observed that the area infested with weeds in rice paddies is increasing rapidly with each rice crop. Therefore, farmers are advised to thoroughly prepare the land before planting to avoid losses to the yield of the upcoming Summer-Autumn rice crop.

In addition, it is necessary to monitor for early detection of pests such as golden apple snails and thrips; farmers should proactively and regularly inspect their fields, closely monitor the development of planthoppers, and are advised to only apply specific insecticides when the planthoppers are in their 2nd-3rd instar stage and the planthopper density exceeds 3,000 individuals/m2. In such cases, one of the molting inhibitor insecticides should be used for spraying, paying attention to avoiding combination with broad-spectrum insecticides to prevent the risk of planthopper outbreaks in later stages.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the province plans to plant 35,000 hectares of rice in the 2024 Summer-Autumn crop, divided into three main phases: Phase 1: 4,000 hectares (from January 4th to March 5th) planted in areas along National Highway 54 in Tra On district, Binh Minh town, and the hilly areas along the Mang River in Tam Binh district, and along the Tien River in Mang Thit and Vung Liem districts. Phase 2: 25,000 hectares (from March 19th to April 18th), this is the main planting phase, distributed across most localities in the province. Phase 3: 6,000 hectares (from May 1st to May 31st) planted in the remaining area, distributed in central areas, low-lying areas, areas at risk of salinity intrusion, areas without proactive irrigation systems, and areas without complete dikes.

However, depending on the specific conditions of each locality, and especially with careful planning based on drought, salinity, rainfall, and storms, a strict planting schedule should be developed according to each ecological sub-region of the locality.

Currently, the entire province has planted approximately 9,200 hectares of rice for the 2024 Summer-Autumn crop, of which over 7,300 hectares are in the seedling stage.

Text and photos: NGUYEN KHANG

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