Farmers are struggling because of two crop failures.
In an effort to rebuild after the impact of natural disasters in 2024, Bao Yen district authorities quickly mobilized many resources to support people in restoring production, including distributing rice, corn and vegetable seeds from national reserves. Particularly for corn growing areas, households affected by floods were supported with VS36 and LVN10 seeds. These are hybrid varieties that have been recognized as national varieties and have been widely grown in many localities across the country.
In Kim Son commune - one of the localities heavily affected by storm No. 3 in 2024 - early 2025, when receiving corn seeds, people enthusiastically prepared the land for spring planting. According to people's assessment, the weather conditions were favorable, the corn plants grew quickly, with tall stems, green leaves, and wide canopies. By mid-April, the entire area entered the flagging and silking stage; at the end of May, when checking the fields, many households discovered that the corn had grown large and abundant cobs but did not set grain or set grain at a very low rate.
Taking reporters to his family's corn field, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuyen, Bao An village, Kim Son commune, sadly shared: "At the beginning of the spring crop, my family was supported with 8 kg of corn seeds to plant about 10 sao (more than 3,600 m2 ). From sowing to flowering, the corn plants grew very well, but the cobs had few seeds, some had 5-7 branches, and no seeds. Meanwhile, the corn field next door was also planted on the same day but planted with a different variety, so the cobs were full of seeds and beautiful."
Next to Mr. Tuyen's field, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ngát's corn field is also in a similar situation. Mrs. Ngát said that the alluvial land area needs 7 kg of seeds, so in addition to the 5 kg of supported seeds, the family bought 2 kg of other corn seeds from the supply store. Planted at the same time, on the same type of soil, but the supported corn seeds have small ears and very few grains; the self-purchased seeds have a better grain-setting rate.
“I estimate that the yield of the supported corn variety is only less than 50% compared to previous crops, not enough to pay for fertilizer and labor. Last year, the crop was ruined by floods, and this year the corn has not formed seeds, so it will be very difficult,” Ms. Ngát said worriedly.
Mr. Pham Van Dong, Head of Bao An village, said: After receiving notice that the corn area planted by people from supported seeds had a low seed set rate, we went to check and reported to the commune authorities to verify the cause.
According to preliminary statistics, this spring crop, 50 households in the village received corn seed support. Up to now, 37 households have reported that the corn has grown into ears but not set kernels or has produced very few kernels.
In Minh Tan commune, people also planted seeds at the end of February and by the end of April, the corn had flowered and sprouted silk. Up to this point, in the villages and hamlets in the commune, some areas of corn had low grain formation and reduced productivity.
Mr. Hoang Ngoc Kim Vo, Vice Chairman of Minh Tan Commune People's Committee, said: According to statistics, the whole commune has about 5 hectares of corn planted from supported seeds (corn seedling sown at the end of February, flowering at the end of April) with signs of low seeding, yield may only reach about 30 - 50% compared to local varieties often planted in previous crops. There are still some areas of seeds (VS36 and LVN10) supported by people to sow tea later, currently the yield cannot be assessed because it is in the flowering and seeding period.
Similarly, in Cam Con commune, the situation is not better, when more than 21 hectares of corn planted from supported seeds also have the phenomenon of not forming seeds or forming very few seeds.
Mr. Nguyen Van Manh, Vice Chairman of Cam Con Commune People's Committee, said: In the 2025 spring corn crop, the People's Committee received 880 kg of corn seeds from the national reserve materials (440 kg of VS36 seeds, 440 kg of LVN10 seeds) to provide to households to plant 45.5 hectares. In fact, the corn area planted from the supported seeds grew well, pests and diseases were prevented in time without affecting the crops. However, when the seeds were formed, there were areas where VS36 seeds did not form seeds, and LVN10 seeds had only 20% of seeds, making people extremely worried. Currently, the Commune People's Committee has reported to the district and requested the seed supplier to come down to inspect and clarify the cause to find a solution.
Bad weather or corn variety ?
According to information obtained by reporters, currently, in addition to Kim Son, Cam Con, and Minh Tan communes, many corn fields in Bao Ha, Viet Tien, and Nghia Do communes... which were flooded during last year's rainy season are also experiencing similar conditions.
It is known that immediately after receiving feedback from the people, the District People's Committee directed specialized agencies to conduct field inspections in 17/17 communes and towns in the area. Initial results showed that about 120 hectares of corn in 16/17 localities showed signs of reduced productivity, of which, supported corn varieties recorded very low productivity.
According to Ms. Nhu Thi Tam, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Bao Yen district, the problem may not be entirely due to the corn variety, because there are areas planted with the same variety VS36 or LVN10 but the seeding rate is still very good. The areas with good harvests have a planting time difference of about 5 days compared to the areas with reduced productivity. Through analysis, the preliminary cause may be due to unfavorable weather right at the corn pollination stage.
Besides the weather factor, the soil condition after the flood has not been thoroughly improved. Flooded soil often has high acidity and nutritional imbalance, while many households do not have the conditions to treat the soil thoroughly. In addition, it could also be due to some corn varieties not being suitable for the local soil and climate conditions.
On the side of the seed supplier - Thai Binh Seed Group Joint Stock Company - Mr. Dang Cao Cuong, Production Director said: We have organized a team to inspect the locality. Comparing with the weather conditions (especially temperature and humidity), from April 15 to 25 (when many corn fields were flowering), Bao Yen district experienced prolonged heat, followed by heavy rain. For corn, the pollination period is only 3 "golden" days. If during this period it rains or is hot above 32 degrees Celsius, and the humidity is below 50%, the anthers will be affected, the pollen will not disperse, pollination will be poor, leading to no grain formation.
Mr. Dang Cao Cuong added: “The company sympathizes with the people because of the adverse effects that have led to the reduction in corn productivity. We are willing to use the same batch of seeds and replant on the same land that the people assessed as having poor corn grain formation in another crop to find the cause.”
According to information from the People's Committee of Bao Yen district, the locality is contacting and connecting with businesses to purchase corn with reduced productivity for animal feed, minimizing economic losses for people. At the same time, the district's Department of Agriculture and Environment will continue to guide people to improve the land and plant within the cropping season to limit the negative impact of unfavorable weather on production.
Currently, the specialized departments of the Department of Agriculture and Environment are conducting inspections to determine the cause of the corn not forming seeds or forming seeds poorly. Farmers really hope that the authorities will soon have an objective answer and propose a support plan to reduce the damage to growers.
After checking and verifying the field, comparing with other production areas and weather developments in the spring crop, the experts initially determined that the cause could be due to unfavorable weather conditions, causing the corn yield to decrease compared to the expected. In addition, the condition of the cultivated land after the natural disaster caused an unbalanced nutrient content, which also had an impact on the reduction of the spring corn yield in Bao Yen. To ensure productivity for the next crop, the experts recommended that people proactively improve the soil and comply with the production schedule to limit the negative impact of the weather.
Source: https://baolaocai.vn/hang-tram-ha-ngo-o-bao-yen-co-ty-le-ket-hat-thap-bat-thuong-post402552.html
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