Urgently prepare the land for summer-autumn rice planting

Mr. Mai Van Tuan in Huong So Ward ( Hue City) said that almost every year, people hurriedly harvest summer-autumn rice to avoid floods, many crops had to be harvested overnight. Farmers also went bankrupt because they could not harvest rice before the flood came early. To prevent the flood from coming early this year, Mr. Tuan quickly harvested 5 sao of winter-spring rice, combined with preparing the land for the summer-autumn crop.

Through the cooperative and local authorities, Mr. Tuan registered to buy rice seeds at the Provincial Plant and Animal Seed Joint Stock Company to ensure quality. Not only did he plant 100% certified rice seeds, but he also planted new rice varieties, creating high-quality products with economic value such as HN6, HG12... In particular, this crop, his family used all short-term and extremely short-term rice varieties to shorten the growing period and harvest in time to avoid possible early floods.

Mr. Dang Van Chung, Director of the Provincial Plant and Animal Seed Joint Stock Company, informed that up to now, the unit has received almost complete contracts from cooperatives, localities, and customer units to purchase rice seeds for the summer-autumn crop. Not only ensuring the amount of seeds for the summer-autumn crop, the company also produces a full range of varieties according to the seasonal structure such as glutinous rice N87, N97, DT100, Khang Dan, DT39, HN6, HG12, HT1, TH5... The company also produces a reserve amount of rice seeds to supply people to overcome natural disasters.

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Le Van Anh informed that this winter-spring rice crop has warm and sunny weather, without prolonged cold rain, so the growth period of rice plants is shortened by 5-7 days, and the harvest is expected to be concentrated from May 5-15. To quickly and neatly harvest the 2023-2024 winter-spring crop, reducing stress on summer-autumn production, localities have mobilized maximum harvesters, straw rollers, soil preparation machines and prepared seed sources for summer-autumn planting.

People should implement synchronous solutions to clean the fields with biological products, plowing the soil right after harvesting winter-spring rice to kill harmful organisms, limiting organic poisoning for summer-autumn rice. For areas contaminated with alum and salinity, especially low-lying areas with stagnant water, it is necessary to implement measures such as liming, washing acid, reducing alum... to limit damage right from the beginning of the summer-autumn crop.

Due to the impact of climate change and the El Nino phenomenon, weather and natural disasters are becoming increasingly unusual and extreme. According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, in the 2024 dry season, the Central and Central Highlands regions may experience drought and localized water shortages, affecting agricultural production.

In order to limit damage caused by natural disasters, ensure crop productivity and output..., the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will soon provide guidance on summer-autumn rice production according to the motto "as soon as winter-spring rice is harvested, the land is prepared for summer-autumn rice cultivation". The requirement for this crop is to put all short-term and ultra-short-term rice varieties into cultivation, notably mainly arranging the main varieties DT100 (KH1), N87, N97 (glutinous rice), Khang Dan, HT1, HN6, DT39, HG12, TH5...

Mr. Le Van Anh recommended that localities and farmers need to increase the proportion of reasonably structured varieties with extremely short growing times on late-planting areas to ensure the planting schedule; trial production of the promising variety HG244 is encouraged by the department. Farmers boldly introduce some officially recognized rice varieties, participate in linkages and product consumption such as TBR97, Ha Phat 3, VNR20, DB6... to gradually diversify the province's variety set.

To adapt to the dry and drought conditions that are likely to occur in the 2024 summer-autumn crop, localities should proactively develop plans to prevent and combat drought and change crop structures accordingly from the beginning of the crop. Depending on the growth period of each variety and the actual conditions of the locality, appropriate sowing and planting times should be arranged, ensuring that the summer-autumn rice crop blooms from July 15 to July 30, striving to complete the harvest before August 30, 2024.

Article and photos: Hoang The