Winter-spring rice yield decreased, price low

Harvesting winter-spring rice in Hai Duong commune, Hai Lang district - Photo: LA

While harvesting the remaining 2 sao of rice, Mr. Nguyen Ty of Kim Long Cooperative, Hai Binh Commune, Hai Lang District said that this winter-spring crop, his family planted nearly 10 sao with 2 main rice varieties, Khang Dan and HG12. The average yield was only about 2.5 - 2.8 quintals of fresh rice/sao, nearly 1 quintal/sao lower than last winter-spring crop. According to Mr. Ty, the reason for the decrease in rice yield is that this year there were prolonged cold spells after Tet, and when the rice was flowering, there was frost, so many grains were empty.

“From the time of planting until the rice flowers bloomed, the weather was very complicated, with prolonged cold and strong winds, which greatly affected the rice plants. Last year, I harvested nearly 4 tons of rice from the same area, but this year I only got about 3 tons. Notably, not only did the yield decrease, but the price of rice also decreased, to only about 7,200 VND/kg, so after deducting expenses, the profit was not much,” said Mr. Ty.

At Dien Khanh Cooperative, Hai Duong Commune, Hai Lang District, while attentively watching the rice cutting machine on her field, Ms. Phan Thi Yen was also disappointed and said that compared to last year, this year's winter-spring crop yield had decreased significantly. If last year on an area of ​​1 hectare of Ms. Yen's family's field, with the two main rice varieties Khang Dan and HG244, the yield was about 4 quintals of fresh rice per sao, then this year's winter-spring crop yielded only about 3 quintals of fresh rice per sao.

In addition, the purchase price of rice from traders is currently low, only from 7,000 - 7,200 VND/kg, while last year it was up to 8,300 - 8,500 VND/kg, so profits have decreased significantly. "This year, both seeds and fertilizers have increased compared to last year, not to mention the cost of care and harvesting. If last winter-spring crop, after deducting expenses, I made a profit of more than 20 million VND, this year I will probably only make about 10 - 12 million VND," said Ms. Yen.

Vice Chairman of Hai Duong Commune People's Committee Vo Trung Hieu said that up to now, farmers in the commune have harvested about 200 hectares out of a total area of ​​over 900 hectares in the whole commune. Through field visits, the expected yield is about 66.4 quintals/ha, about 1.7 quintals/ha lower than the previous winter-spring crop.

According to the commune's survey, the first crop of rice only yielded about 2.9 - 3 quintals of fresh rice/ha, while the second and third crop of rice still yielded nearly 3.5 quintals/ha. Not to mention that the rice purchase price this year also decreased by nearly 1,300 - 1,500 VND/kg, so the profit was much lower than previous crops.

According to Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment (DARD) of Hai Lang district, Vo Chi Truong, the whole district has harvested more than 1,500 hectares out of a total of nearly 6,900 hectares of winter-spring rice. The average yield is estimated at about 61.05 quintals/ha, about 6.2 quintals/ha lower than last year. Currently, Hai Lang district is directing localities to focus on human resources and means to speed up the winter-spring harvest, while preparing the necessary conditions to immediately deploy the summer-autumn crop to avoid damage caused by late-season floods.

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment Nguyen Hong Phuong said that up to this point, the whole province has harvested over 3,000 hectares of winter-spring rice. The expected yield is about 60 tons/ha, only slightly lower than last year with about 1.6 tons/ha.

According to Ms. Phuong, the main reason for the decrease in productivity is that most of the first rice fields were affected by cold rains at the beginning of the season, especially during the flowering stage. The remaining rice fields planted in the second and third seasons and flowering after April 20 are all growing well. Currently, farmers in the province are focusing on harvesting from now until May 15 and are expected to complete the winter-spring rice harvest before May 20.

According to Ms. Phuong, because it is currently the transitional season, extreme weather events such as thunderstorms accompanied by tornadoes and strong gusts of wind often occur, which can greatly affect the yield and quality of rice, as well as the harvesting and preservation of winter-spring rice.

Therefore, localities need to take advantage of favorable weather to concentrate human resources and equipment to quickly and neatly harvest the winter-spring rice crop when it is just ripe to prevent storms causing lodging and heavy rains causing flooding. Immediately after harvesting, farmers need to urgently clean the fields, prepare the soil early such as plowing, drying the fields, treating with lime, and stubble decomposition products to eliminate pests and diseases, limiting the harmful occurrence of dangerous pests in the summer-autumn crop such as white-backed planthoppers, black-striped dwarf disease, and spider mites.

Fully prepare materials such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides to ensure summer-autumn crop planting according to the crop schedule and seed structure issued by the Department of Agriculture and Environment...

Le An

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/lua-vu-dong-xuan-nang-suat-giam-gia-thap-193574.htm