Illustrative image (Source: VNA)According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the regionhas harvested 10,259 million tonnes of rice in the crop, up 188,375 tonnes fromthe same period in 2015-2016.
The region planted more than 1.5 million ha of rice in the crop, down 22,630 haagainst the previous winter-spring crop, with an average yield of 6.7 tonnes ahectare.
The ministry said in the rest of 2017, drastic measures will be put forth todeal with poor weather and the impacts of climate change such as drought and salineintrusion.
The region will plant over 1.6 million ha of rice in the 2017 summer-autumncrop, hoping to reach an estimated output of 9.45 million tonnes, up nearly437,000 tonnes against the 2016 summer-autumn crop.
Meanwhile, the area of the autumn-winter crop is set to decline more than 10,443 hacompared to the same crop of 2016, aiming for a yield of nearly 4.56 milliontonnes, more than 126,000 tonnes higher than the 2016 autumn-winter crop.
Rice varieties resistant to drought and salt water such as OM 6976, OM 2517, OM5629, among others, will be used for the crops.
According to MARD Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh, over 800,000 ha of the2016-2017 winter-spring crop has not yet been harvested, so regional localitiesneed to take measures to achieve maximum output.
He also suggested regional farmers plant high-quality rice varieties.
Agencies under the MARD and localities in the region were asked to payattention to fighting plant-diseases, especially in the context of unfavourableweather at present.-VNA
VNA
