Harvesting summer – autumn rice in Vi Thanh city in Hau Giang province. (Photo: VNA)Hau Giang (VNA) - Thesouthern region expects to harvest an average of 5.66 tonnes of paddy perhectare in the current summer-autumn crop, 139 kilogrammes more than last year,according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s PlantCultivation Department.
The region is entering the harvestseason and estimates output will be around 9.24 million tonnes.
The region, which comprises the MekongDelta and south-eastern region, has planted 1.64 million hectares, down46,000ha from last year, with the delta accounting for 42,000ha.
Speaking at a seminar in Hau Giang provincethis week, Le Thanh Tung, deputy head of the department, said the 42,000ha inthe Mekong Delta are now used to grow high–value crops or for aquaculture.
The switch was due to the low pricesrice farmers got for the 2018-2019 winter-spring crop and the delay in thearrival of rains in some areas.
The southern region has increasedthe rate of high-quality rice varieties it grows in the summer-autumn crop.
Specialty and fragrant varietiesaccount for almost 25 percent, high-quality varieties for 44 percent,medium-quality varieties for 19 percent, and other varieties includingglutinous for the remaining 12 percent.
For the upcoming autumn-winter crop,the department is considering two options for the Delta: planting 750,000ha, up9,380ha from last year, or 700,000ha.
If the latter is chosen, 30,000 willbe left inundated during the Mekong flooding season and other crops and aquaticspecies will be raised on the remaining area.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture andRural Development Le Quoc Doanh said the main criterion is not the area but thesafety of the crop.
The autumn-winter rice should begrown in areas with flood-prevention embankments, he said.
The ministry’s relevant departmentsshould do the task of forecasting weather and availability of water properly sothat each locality can draw up appropriate planting schedules, he said.
They should counsel farmers to focuson high-quality and fragrant rice varieties to meet export demand, headded.-VNA
VNA
