Long An: Profit of 2019 - 2020 Winter-Spring crop increases despite many difficulties

Vice Chairman of Long An Provincial People's Committee - Pham Van Canh highly appreciates the results of the 2019-2020 Winter-Spring crop, despite many difficulties

According to the Agriculture sector, climate change, early drought and saltwater intrusion caused water shortage, in the Winter-Spring crop 2019-2020, in the Southern districts, the productivity of about 3,800 hectares of rice was reduced from 30-60 percent, 990 hectares completely damaged (in 2 districts of Thu Thua and Tan Tru). In the 2019-2020 Winter-Spring crop, the whole province sowed about 227,235 hectares, reaching 99.98 percent of the plan and 98 percent over the same period (down 4,733 hectares). Due to drought, salinity and lack of irrigation water, the districts of Thu Thua, Tan Tru, Can Duoc and Tan An city actively stopped planting this crop; some areas converted to other crops.

The area of the 2019-2020 Winter-Spring crop decreased but productivity and price increased, so the profit increased. The average profit was estimated at 15-20 million VND per hectare, an increase of more than 2-3 million VND per hectare compared to the 2018-2019 Winter-Spring crop.

The whole province harvested 226,245 hectares of Winter-Spring rice; dry productivity was estimated at 64.6 quintals per hectare, an increase of 1.2 quintals per hectare; the output was estimated at 1.46 million tons, down about 9,200 tons compared to the 2018-2019 Winter-Spring crop (due to the reduction of area and loss of 990 hectares), reaching 54 percent of the plan in 2020 (2.7 million tons).

Besides, the planting of some other crops was relatively stable; in 2019, the whole province changed over 2,500 hectares of rice to other crops (dragon fruit, jackfruit, coconut, grapefruit, durian, and so on).

Despite many difficulties, both rice productivity and price increase in the 2019-2020 Winter-Spring crop 

 In order to achieve a rice production of over 2.7 million tons in 2020, the province plans to sow about 217,640 hectares with an output of over 1 million tons in the Summer-Autumn crop; about 47,200 hectares with an output of over 222,000 tons in the Fall-Winter crop.

As scheduled, the 2020 Summer-Autumn calendar schedule consists of 3 phases, in which, the first phase is from April 15 to April 25, the second phase is from May 13 to May 23, and the third phase is from June 13 to June 25. In order to avoid damage, the areas that cannot control water sources do not sow before the rainy season. Rice varieties should be grown in accordance with changes in water resources and saline intrusion such as OM 4900, OM 5451, Sticky rice, Dai Thom 8, RVT, Nang Hoa 9, ST, OM 6976, etc. In areas where alum and saltwater are affected, rice varieties such as AS996, OM 5451, OM 6976, etc. should be used.

At the conference, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Pham Van Canh highly appreciated the direction of the Agriculture sector and the local authorities so that the Winter-Spring crop had positive results in the face of drought and saltwater intrusion. In order to reach the production target of 2020, functional branches and localities should closely monitor hydro-meteorology and saline intrusion; focus on overcoming the adverse weather conditions to apply intensive farming and disease control; change the structure of crops in accordance with production conditions.

In addition, it is recommended to implement the project of high-tech application of agriculture in association with the restructuring of the agriculture sector to increase profits, improve efficiency and quality of agricultural products. In the Summer-Autumn crop, localities should follow the seasonal calendar. In particular, localities that have sown Summer-Autumn rice seedlings early should focus on directing and closely monitoring pests and diseases./.

By Huynh Phong - Translated by Pham Ngan

Source: http://baolongan.vn/long-an-loi-nhuan-vu-dong-xuan-2019-2020-tang-du-con-nhieu-kho-khan-a93343.html