Farmers enter peak winter-spring rice harvest season

Rice productivity and prices have decreased, so the rice trading situation is also less exciting. Photo: NGOC HAN

Yield and price of rice decrease

These days, in Da Dung field in Hoa Tan Dong commune (Dong Hoa town), farmers are harvesting the winter-spring rice crop - the most important rice crop of the year. In contrast to the bustling atmosphere of previous rice crops, this rice crop is less enjoyable for farmers because of low productivity and lower prices.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Le in Hoa Tan Dong commune said: This crop, my family planted 5 hectares of Dai Thom 8 rice. When we first planted, it rained for many days, and near the end of the crop, brown planthoppers and white-backed planthoppers appeared and caused damage, so on average, my family lost more than 200 kg of rice per sao. In addition, the price of rice this year is also lower than last year, many places buy it for only about 7,500 VND/kg, while the cost of cultivation and harvesting has increased.

According to Ms. Vo Thi Tham, Deputy Head of the Dong Hoa Town Crop and Livestock Station, in the 2024-2025 winter-spring crop, the entire town will plant more than 4,500 hectares of rice, mainly the following rice varieties: Quang Nam 9, Dai Thom 8, PY8, PY10, ML123... Up to this point, nearly 40% of the area has been harvested.

“This year, the erratic weather has affected the growth and development of rice plants. Currently, the main crop of rice is being harvested, so the yield has not been fully assessed. However, with the recent weather developments and brown planthopper damage, the possibility of a decrease in the main crop of rice yield is inevitable,” Ms. Tham informed.

Meanwhile, in the communes of Hoa Hoi, Hoa Dinh Dong, and Hoa Thang (Phu Hoa district), farmers have finished harvesting the winter-spring rice crop. According to households, most of the rice yield this crop is not high and the rice price has also decreased compared to the previous crop.

Mr. Nguyen Trong in Hoa Hoi commune shared: Due to the influence of cold air waves at the time of sowing, the rice plants grow slowly. In previous years, fertilizer was only applied twice, but this year it had to be applied 3-4 times. With the selling price at 6,000-8,000 VND/kg, down 2,000-2,500 VND/kg compared to the same period, just calculating the selling price, 1ha of farmers lost about 2 million VND. If we add the rice yield reduction of 200kg/sao, then roughly, farmers lost more than 3 million VND/ha of income. This is not a small amount of money for rice growers.

Speed up the harvest

To reduce damage from unusual weather conditions that may occur due to thunderstorms, local authorities and cooperatives are mobilizing mechanical equipment such as combine harvesters and straw balers to operate at full capacity to support farmers in speeding up the rice harvest with the motto "green at home is better than ripe in the fields".

Even though it was night, Mrs. Tran Thi Hien in Hoa Tri commune and many other households in the hamlet still went to the fields to harvest rice. Holding the newly cut rice in her hand, Mrs. Hien said: Never before has the winter-spring crop been so severely affected, affecting rice productivity like this year. In previous crops, on average, one sao harvested 8-9 bags, but this crop only yielded 5-6 bags, losing more than 30% of the yield. Therefore, for the remaining rice fields, my family proactively rented a harvester at night to harvest the rice and transport the harvested rice home during the night, so that it could be dried the next morning before being sold.

According to the provincial Department of Crop Production and Livestock, up to now, the whole province has harvested 7,457/26,000 hectares of winter-spring rice 2024-2025, the average rice yield is estimated at 6.5 tons/ha, down 7-9 tons/ha; the selling price fluctuates from 6,000-8,000 VND/kg, 2,000-2,500 VND/kg lower than the same period last year.

Mr. Ho Quang Nam, Director of Dong Hoa An Agricultural Service Cooperative, said: This crop, the Cooperative has put into production 214 hectares of rice, and has now harvested more than 40 hectares, with an average yield of more than 8 tons/ha, 4 tons/ha lower than last year's winter-spring crop. To avoid rice loss due to erratic rain and sunshine, the Cooperative is contracting with the owner of the combine harvester to speed up the progress and urgently harvest the remaining rice area.

According to the provincial Department of Crop Production and Livestock, in the 2024-2025 winter-spring rice crop, farmers in the province mainly sow high-yield, good-quality rice varieties such as: DV108, Dai Thom 8, PY10, Ha Phat 3, BDR57, BDR999, OM269-65, PY8, CH133, ML232... with a total area of over 26,000 hectares. Currently, many areas of early winter-spring rice and main-season rice in the districts of Tay Hoa, Phu Hoa, Tuy An, Dong Xuan... have been harvested.

“From now until May 15, localities will focus on harvesting winter-spring rice. The Department of Agriculture and localities will continue to closely follow weather forecasts to direct the acceleration of progress and regulate harvesters appropriately between regions; at the same time, farmers are advised to proactively change specific times to avoid heat and thunderstorms, limiting the impact on rice yield and quality after harvest. In addition, people also need to proactively retain water, prepare the land, clean up and clear the flow, and be ready for the upcoming summer-autumn crop,” said Mr. Tran Quang Truong, Deputy Head of the Provincial Department of Crop Production and Livestock.

Source: https://baophuyen.vn/kinh-te/202505/nong-dan-vao-cao-diemthu-hoach-lua-dong-xuan-da05153/