Agricultural production in the month focused mainly on harvesting winter paddy in the country, cultivating winter annual crops in Northern provinces and preparing to sow early winter-spring paddy 2021.
Total area of winter paddy cultivation was 1,584.6 thousand hectares, an equal to 98.3%, in comparison with that of over the same period 2019, of which Northern provinces recorded 1,050.2 thousand hectares, an equal to 98.1%; particularly Red River Delta provinces reached 484.4 thousand hectares, an equal to 97.4%; Southern provinces reached 534.4 thousand hectares, an equal to 98.8%.
As of mid-October, localities across the country basically finished the winter paddy production. The country harvested 1,424.7 thousand hectares of winter paddy, accounted for 89.9% of cultivated area, an equal to 98.1% in comparison with that over the same period last year. Of which, localities in the North harvested 1,032.7 thousand hectares, made up 98.3%, an equal to 97.7%; Southern provinces harvested 392 thousand hectares, made up 73.4%, an equal to 99.1%. This year’s winter rice harvest progress is slower than that of the same period last year due to the influence of hot weather and drought, sowing time is delayed from 10-20 days compared to normal seasons. The winter paddy area decreased in some provinces included: Ninh Thuan decreased by 2.9 thousand hectares; Thanh Hoa decreased by 4.7 thousand hectares; Hanoi decreased by 2.4 thousand hectares; Hai Phong decreased 2.7 thousand hectares; Hung Yen decreased by 1.9 thousand hectares; … resulting in a decrease in the overall output of winter rice. Although at the beginning of the crop the weather is unfavorable and droughts on a large scale make difficult to cultivate, in the process of growing and developing rice, rain and sun alternating, the water source is maintained, and the rice plants laid quick, so the yield of this year’s winter paddy is higher than that of the previous year’s winter paddy. According to the preliminary report, this year’s winter paddy yield reached 51 quintals/hectare, an increase of 0.5 quintals/hectareover the previous year; due to the decrease in the cultivated area, the production of winter paddy this year was estimated at 8.08 million tons, a decrease of 20.7 thousand tons. Of which, yield of winter paddy in Northern provinces was estimated at 51.7 quintals/hectare, an increase of 0.7 quintals/hectare, in comparison with that over the previous year; production reached 5.43 million tons, equivalent to that of the previous year’s winter crop, particularly in the Red River Delta, yield was estimated at 56.6 quintals/hectare, an increase of 1 quintals/hectare,production reached 2.74 million tons, a decrease of 25.2 thousand tons. In the Southern provinces, yield was estimated at 49.6 quintals/ha, an increase of 0.2 quintals/ha; production reached 2.65 million tons, a decline of 12.8 thousand tons.
Localities in the Mekong River Delta cultivated was estimated at 724 thousand hectares of autumn-winter paddy, a decrease of 0.2 thousand hectares in comparison with that over the same period last year. The area of autumn-winter rice cultivation decreased in provinces such as Tien Giang down by 24.3 thousand hectares, Ben Tre down by 14.5 thousand hectares; Tra Vinh down by 10.1 thousand hectares due to the conversion to fruit trees and the impact of the chain from the late summer-autumn crop, some areas were not enough for production time, so farmers temporarily let the land rest. However, the area of autumn-winter rice cultivation were increased in some provinces due to some sub-regions come back to cultivate and expansion of areas outside embankment such as An Giang increased by 14.3 thousand ha; Kien Giang increased by 11.4 thousand hectares; Soc Trang increased by 13 thousand hectares. In general, the autumn-winter rice cultivated area didn’t not have much change compared to the previous autumn-winter crop. So far, the region harvested 382.9 thousand hectares of winter-autumn paddy, made up 52.9% of the total cultivated area and equaled to 103.9%, in comparison with that over the same period last year. According to the preliminary report, yield of the crop was estimated at 55.1quintal/hectare, an increase of 0.2 quintals/ha, in comparison with that of the winter-autumn crop last year; production was estimated at 3.99 million tons, equivalent to that of the previous year’s crop.Currently, nearly half of the autumn-winter paddy area has not yet harvested, the Agriculture sector needs to strengthen guidance for famers to closely monitor the growth of rice plants, especially on bloomed rice to avoid pests and diseases.
As of November 15, 2020, Northern provincessowed 237.9 thousand hectares of early winter-spring paddy, an equal to 68.1%,in comparison with that over the same period last year, mainly concentration in the Mekong Delta. The progress of cultivating winter-spring rice was slower than that of the same period last year mainly due to three reasons: (1) The plan for winter-spring rice production of the previous year was implemented earlier than the sowing schedule; (2) due to heavy rains recently, the water of August 30 and September 15 in lunar calendar rose quite high; (3) due to the psychology and experience of the famers thinks that: sowing in the 10/10 lunar often gives higher yields. Winter crop is always the biggest and the most important crop of the year, the local agriculture sector should actively propagate and guide farmers at the beginning of the crop, avoid sowing unfocused and to strictly abide by the schedule of avoidance hopper, should not sow seed before the hopper migrates; should not have many kind of rice in the same field, the seeding time should be 5-7 days. On the other hand, it is necessary to clean the fields carefully, attaching importance to the selection of quality rice varieties with good pest prevention ability for high yield and good rice quality./.