Rice blast spread due to use of susceptible varieties
Up to now, Huong Son district has more than 10 hectares of spring rice infected with leaf blast in 9 localities. Of which, 7 communes: Son Phu, Son Trung, Son Lam, Son Linh, My Long, Son Tay, An Hoa Thinh have infected areas from 0.1 - 0.4 hectares/commune; Tan My Ha, Chau Binh have the largest infected rice areas with 7.6 hectares and 1 hectare. In addition, leaf blast disease also appeared locally in the communes: Ham Truong, Son Ninh, Son Tien, Pho Chau town.
According to statistics from professional agencies, the average disease rate is from 3-5%, locally from 15-20%, some places have been burned; the groups of varieties currently infected with the disease are: Du Huong 8, Thai Xuyen 111, DT 18.
Ms. Bui Thi Long - engineer of the Center for Application of Science and Technology and Protection of Plants and Livestock in Huong Son district said that the objective cause was due to cloudy weather, prolonged rain, fog at night and in the morning, and weak light, causing rice blast disease to arise and cause more widespread damage than in previous years (in the same period of previous years, the infected area was only about 1.5 - 2 hectares). The subjective cause was that some people arbitrarily used DT 18 outside the structure, which was susceptible to rice blast disease and spread to neighboring fields.
It is known that the DT 18 variety has been tested for production by some households in the two old communes of Son Chau and Son Binh (now Chau Binh commune) since the summer-autumn crop of 2024. Because the variety produced good quality rice, in the spring crop of 2025, households in this commune continued to sow and grow it. However, unlike the summer-autumn crop, this rice crop was not as lucky as the summer-autumn crop, the variety was quite heavily infected with leaf blast.
Ms. Le Thi Thanh Tam - an agricultural official of Chau Binh commune said: "DT 18 rice variety was purchased by farmers at Thuong Dat store, Nam Doai village (Chau Binh), a rice variety permitted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. However, this rice variety is not included in the rice variety structure of the commune and the district, and people arbitrarily planted it. In the spring crop of 2025, the whole commune had about 0.5 hectares of this rice variety planted and all of them were infected with leaf blast disease".
Located near Chau Binh commune, there are up to 60 households in Tan Ho, Bac Ha, Tay Ha, Tan Thuy, Thuan My (Tan My Ha) villages also sowing DT 18 seeds on an area of 4 hectares. Currently, this entire area is infected with leaf blast disease.
Chairman of Tan My Ha Commune People's Committee Tran Kim Chi said: "Tan My Ha Commune has 394 hectares of spring rice mainly using rice varieties such as VNR10, VNR 20, Thai Xuyen 111, with an annual yield of 62 - 64 quintals/ha. DT 18 is not included in the commune's spring rice variety structure. The fact that people arbitrarily use varieties outside the structure has caused areas to be infected with leaf blast disease and more seriously, it has become the cause of spreading to other varieties in the area such as Thai Xuyen 111, Bac Thinh... The total area of rice infected with leaf blast disease in the commune is currently 7.6 hectares".
According to Mr. Phan Xuan Duc - Director of the Center for Application of Science and Technology and Protection of Crops and Livestock in Huong Son district, DT 18 rice variety is very sensitive to rice blast disease, while this year's prolonged rainy weather has caused the disease to arise, causing damage and spreading widely.
Localities take action to control
According to information from the professional sector of Huong Son district, at this time, localities have directed and guided people to organize large-scale prevention. In communes and areas with rice areas heavily infected with blast, local authorities coordinate with professional agencies to organize propaganda, print technical procedures and provide instructions on planting and spraying pesticides to prevent the spread of the disease; at the same time, continue to propagate people to monitor the fields, detect new infected areas early to have timely prevention solutions.
Particularly for the infected area using DT 18 variety, the supplier, Vu Nguyen Agri Company Limited (Ho Chi Minh City), has supported more than 300 bottles of rice blast prevention medicine; coordinated with the Center for Application of Science and Technology & Protection of Plants and Livestock, and the authorities of Tan My Ha and Chau Binh communes to implement preventive measures to limit the risk of widespread spread.
Mr. Tran Quang Hoa - Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Huong Son district said: "With the spirit of focusing on zoning, handling small areas, and spraying large areas, up to now, the whole district has sprayed rice blast disease on an area of more than 150 hectares, concentrated in the communes of Tan My Ha, Chau Binh, Son Tay, Son Linh... This is to prevent the risk of spreading at the tillering stage and the emergence of rice blast disease in the coming time. The district also recommends that people raise their proactive spirit in closely following the fields to check and monitor the situation of pests and diseases on rice."
According to the forecast of Ha Tinh Hydrometeorological Station, the weather will continue to be cloudy, with little sunshine, high humidity, and an average temperature of 18 - 23 degrees Celsius, creating favorable conditions for rice blast fungus spores to spread, germinate, and potentially spread widely.
Huong Son authorities will continue to focus on directing farmers to take advantage of the weather to go to the fields and promptly spray areas at risk of infection. In particular, they will conduct zoning and thoroughly treat infected areas to limit the source of infection, especially in areas where disease-sensitive varieties are planted, such as Khang Dan 18, Thai Xuyen 111, VN20, Bac Thinh, B15, etc.
Source: https://baohatinh.vn/moi-lua-dao-on-tu-giong-ngoai-co-cau-huong-son-gap-rut-khong-che-post285471.html
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