Farmers enjoy bumper Winter-Spring rice crop

Thanks to the timely direction of the Agriculture Ministry, the rice yield of the 2020-2021 Winter-Spring crop is expected at 6.3 tons per hectare, up 0.1 ton against last year.

Despite a reduction in the rice cultivated area, the northern region enjoyed record output and productivity in the 2020-2021Winter-Spring crop.

The region harvested an average 6.36 tons of paddy rice per hectare during the crop. The total output is predicted to reach 6.9 million tons, an increase of 34,000 tons compared to the same period last year, according to the Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The northern provinces have sown rice on 1,086 hectares, down 7,000 ha from the same crop last year, it said.

The average yield of the region is forecast to edge up slightly to 6.3 tons per hectare, compared to 6.2 tons last year.

The highest productivity is recorded in the Red River Delta with 6.6 tons per hectare.

Speaking at a conference held to review  the 2020-2021 Winter-Spring crop on Friday, Tran Thi Hoa, deputy director of the Department of Crop Production, said: "The production of 2020-2021winter-spring rice crop has been successful in terms of yield, value, and profit."

However, she said, it was not easy to obtain such an achievement.

Farmers in many provinces and cities, especially the north central region, still suffered from the aftermath of last year’s natural disasters.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic on the occasion of the Lunar New Year affected the production and consumption of vegetables and other crops. Thunderstorms which began in the first half of April affected 6,000 hectares of rice and other crops in some north central provinces such as Ha Tinh and Quang Binh.

The close direction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and favorable conditions have contributed to the success in crop restructuring of the northern provinces.

Thirty-two provinces and cities in the northern region have completed the building of a new rural development program and “large field” model to create raw material and production areas with high-quality rice strains.

The 2020-2021 winter-spring crop in the northern provinces also recorded a shift in the structure of rice varieties. The area of high-quality rice in the northern provinces reached about 534,000 hectares, accounting for 49.2 percent of the total cultivated area, up 34,000 hectares against last year.

The Red River Delta region has the highest percentage of high-quality rice, with 58.9 percent of the cropped area.

The cultivated area of hybrid rice climbed to 256,000 hectares, an increase of 3,100 hectares compared to last year.

Provinces that have large hybrid rice cultivation areas include Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, and Phu Tho with 84,800, 42,000, and 13,700 hectares, respectively.

“The water supply for the 2020-2021 Winter-Spring crop is relatively convenient. Farmers do not worry about water shortage, drought, and saltwater intrusion," said Director General of the Department of Water Resources Nguyen Van Tinh.

Concluding the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said: “Witnessing farmers getting a bumper crop and selling agricultural products with high profits, I am very excited.

“The success of the Winter-Spring crop contributes to the growth of the agricultural sector in 2021 while ensuring national food security ".