Risk of crop failure due to high tides and heavy rains

Over the past few days, the impact of heavy rains and high tides has slowed down the progress of harvesting autumn-winter rice and winter-spring rice production. Farmers are worried that many flooded rice fields are at risk of crop failure.

High tides and prolonged heavy rains caused many rice fields to be flooded and fall, making it difficult for farmers to harvest.

More than 338 hectares were flooded

As of the end of October 2025, the cumulative area planted in the Winter-Spring crop reached 1,410 hectares (accounting for 1.3% of the planned area of 105,037 hectares). Currently, rice crops at the seedling and tillering stages are developing well.

In recent days, heavy rain, floods combined with high tides have caused localized flooding in many rice-growing areas in localities, affecting rice growth, development and productivity.

Up to now, the high tide has caused widespread flooding, affecting 338.4 hectares of rice. The flooded rice areas are mainly in low-lying areas and riverside fields in the communes of Song Phu, Hoa Hiep, Phu Quoi, Hieu Thuan, Long Ho...

Although there are no complete statistics yet, the recent heavy rains have caused flooding and high tides to flood farmers' rice, causing slow harvests, reduced productivity, and lower selling prices compared to previous crops, leaving farmers "restless".

While pumping water out of the field, Mr. Tran Van Hien (Hoa Hiep commune) said: "The rice is about 2 weeks away from harvest, but the tides have been too high these days, causing the rice to be flooded and fall over. I have to pump out the water and hire someone to tie the rice to limit damage, but the yield will definitely decrease. This crop will probably not be profitable."

In Long Ho commune, rain and high tides for many days have also flooded many fields, causing rice to fall over, making it very difficult to harvest many rice fields by machine.

The lack of labor for harvesting rice has delayed the harvest. Many rice fields have ripened but still have to wait for workers to cut them by hand, leading to high loss rates, affecting productivity and quality.

To save costs and avoid losses, farmers who cultivate rice from 2-4 hectares take advantage of the house to cut rice, while households that cultivate a lot have to hire workers to cut rice at a price of 500,000-600,000 VND/hectare, the cost of renting bundles of rice is about 300,000-400,000 VND/hectare but still have no workers to hire.

Some farmers said that rice productivity has decreased a lot, rice has fallen, farmers can only harvest 15-20 bushels/cong, with a selling price of 105,000-115,000 VND/bushel, plus increased harvesting costs, after deducting costs, farmers lose from 0.8-1 million VND/cong.

Take advantage of early harvest

To proactively respond to situations of damage risks caused by natural disasters, the Department of Agriculture and Environment recommends that localities focus on directing the protection of crop areas, and at the same time, based on the complicated flood and high tide situation, review, develop and implement a suitable production plan for the 2025-2026 Winter-Spring crop, ensuring the highest efficiency.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh - Head of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection said: It is necessary to comply with the recommended crop calendar, focus on arranging appropriate crops, continue to carry out simultaneous planting, focusing on each region and each field.

When sowing, it is necessary to have a flexible backup plan to respond to unusual flood and high tide situations, paying special attention to monitoring forecast information on migrating planthoppers and dangerous weather factors.

In particular, using rice varieties with wide adaptability, good for domestic consumption and export: OM5451, OM4900, OM6976, Dai Thom 8, ST25... and additional rice varieties: OM380, OM34, OM429, ST24,...

It is necessary to implement well technical measures for production and integrated pest management (IPM); 3 reductions, 3 increases; 1 must, 5 reductions (pay attention to propaganda and implementation of the program to reduce the amount of seeds sown: broadcast sowing 80-100 kg/ha, row sowing 60-80 kg/ha, transplanting tray seedlings 50-60 kg/ha); sustainable farming and green growth, integrated plant health management (IPHM), applying the 4 correct principles in using plant protection drugs, balanced fertilization; applying mechanization in production to improve productivity, quality, reduce product costs and improve rice production efficiency...

Apply all measures, including manual ones, to drain water thoroughly, creating conditions for the fields to dry quickly. For areas of ripe rice that have fallen over, harvest early according to the motto "green at home is better than old in the field" to minimize damage.

For rice growing in the tillering-heading stage, it is necessary to wash off mud and dirt from the leaves (in the absence of rain). Limit organic poisoning by spraying biological products containing Trichoderma fungus to help quickly decompose organic matter and improve the soil environment.

Fertilization adjustment: Reduce 10% of nitrogen fertilizer at the first fertilization; encourage the use of leaf color chart for reasonable fertilization, avoid excess nitrogen causing lodging.

Article and photos: NGUYEN KHANG

Source: https://baovinhlong.com.vn/thoi-su/202511/nguy-co-mat-mua-do-anh-huong-trieu-cuong-mua-lon-ba507a2/