Prepare good seed sources for winter-spring rice crop

At this time, many farmers in Can Tho City have begun to buy rice seeds to prepare for the 2025-2026 winter-spring crop. This is the most important rice crop of the year, with higher yields than other rice crops. To successfully produce the winter-spring crop, farmers are very interested in selecting seeds and prioritizing fragrant, high-quality rice varieties to sell at high prices and increase income.

Prioritize choosing good rice varieties

Recently, the selling price of rice has not been as high as expected, but many farmers have still boldly invested in buying rice seeds to prepare for the 2025-2026 winter-spring rice crop, especially fragrant and delicious rice varieties that are widely purchased. Mr. Le Van Truong in Dong Thanh hamlet, Dong Thuan commune, Can Tho city, with 40 hectares of rice fields, said: "After harvesting the 2025 autumn-winter rice crop, I cleaned the fields, tilled the land and let floodwater in to destroy pathogens and replenish alluvium for the soil. In the upcoming winter-spring crop, I chose to sow Jasmine 85 fragrant rice, because fragrant rice often sells for a higher price than regular rice varieties and the weather in this crop is also favorable for the production of fragrant rice varieties."

Farmers choose to buy rice seeds at a rice seed production and trading facility in Dong Thuan commune, Can Tho city.

Ms. Tran Thi Nam Nho in Thoi Phong B hamlet, Thoi Lai commune, Can Tho city, said: “When entering the winter sowing season, the price of rice seeds increases and there may be a shortage of goods, unable to buy satisfactory, quality seeds, so I proactively sought to buy rice seeds quite early. Preparing to sow rice in the winter-spring crop of 2025-2026, I went to buy rice seeds to store at home. This season, my family chose to sow Dai Thom 8 seeds.”

Winter-spring is the most important rice crop of the year because rice often gives the best yield and quality, helping farmers achieve the highest profits. Following the recommendations of the functional sector and summarizing experiences through many rice production seasons in recent years, many farmers are now not only interested in choosing to produce rice varieties that produce delicious, high-quality rice, but also focus on using quality seeds, using certified seeds or higher. Thereby, helping the rice plants to be healthy right from the sowing stage, the rice grows evenly, from which farmers are also bold in reducing the amount of seeds used to save production costs.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tam in Dong Hiep commune, Can Tho city, said: “I have bought 300kg of Dai Thom 8 certified rice seeds, preparing to sow for 30 hectares of rice fields. Thanks to the use of good seeds and the application of mechanical machines for precise sowing, in recent rice crops I have only used 10kg of rice seeds per hectare or less. Using quality seeds will help the rice germinate well, farmers do not have to spend time re-sowing, and the rice plants will be healthy, grow well, have the ability to resist pests and diseases and withstand adverse conditions well.”

According to many farmers, choosing good quality seeds is very important, not only helping farmers reduce the amount of seeds used to reduce costs, but also helping the rice plants to be healthy, with few pests and diseases, and the rice fields to achieve good yield and quality.

Some early fragrant rice varieties show signs of high demand.

Currently, the purchasing power of rice seeds in the market has increased significantly compared to previous months. Accordingly, the production and business activities of many enterprises and rice seed trading establishments in Can Tho City are also more vibrant than before.

The prices of many rice varieties have increased by 500-1,500 VND/kg compared to previous months. The highest increase is in fragrant rice varieties (Dai Thom 8, ST 25, Jasmine 85...). Currently, the prices of Jasmine 85, Dai Thom 8 and OM 18 certified rice varieties are sold by many rice seed production and trading establishments in the Mekong Delta at 18,000-20,000 VND/kg. The prices of ST24, ST25 and RVT certified rice varieties are 25,000-26,500 VND/kg, or even higher. IR50404, OM34, OM5451 certified rice varieties are 13,500-18,000 VND/kg...

Although the price of commercial rice is low, the price of many types of rice seeds is still high, because farmers and seed production and trading establishments have to prepare rice seeds from previous rice crops, incurring additional costs for storage, so the selling price is high. Rice seed production also incurs additional costs such as packaging, branding and copyright costs for rice seeds. In addition, the supply of some types of rice seeds is somewhat limited, not ensuring good response to demand, which also creates conditions for prices to increase, especially when purchasing power increases.

Mr. Pham Thanh Van, owner of Tu Van rice seed store in Truong Thanh commune, Can Tho city, said: "Currently, some types of fragrant rice seeds have increased by 1,000-1,500 VND/kg compared to last month. However, farmers who want to buy must call to order in advance, otherwise, they cannot buy them immediately at the store. The reason is that the amount of goods supplied to the market by companies and businesses that own the copyright of the seeds is still limited, and also because many retail stores have not dared to prepare a lot of goods because they do not know the purchasing power, afraid that they will not be able to sell all of them." Mr. Huynh Quoc Nhut, owner of Quoc Nhut rice seed store in Dong Thuan commune, Can Tho city, also said: "At this time, the purchasing power of many types of rice seeds has increased 2-3 times compared to previous weeks. However, the purchasing power has increased unevenly among rice varieties. It is forecasted that the purchasing power of rice seeds will continue to increase due to increased demand when entering the pre-harvest season."

Although some early rice varieties show signs of being in high demand, the supply of many types of rice varieties is still quite abundant. Currently, there are many types of rice varieties on the market, especially fragrant, specialty and high-quality rice varieties, so farmers have many options. The authorities recommend that farmers should not choose to produce "trendy" rice varieties to avoid buying rice seeds at high prices, but should pay attention to choosing to sow rice varieties suitable for local production conditions, linked to market demand and orders from consuming units and enterprises.

Article and photos: KHANH TRUNG

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/chuan-bi-nguon-giong-tot-cho-vu-lua-dong-xuan-a192088.html