Mekong Delta has excellent 2020 – 21 winter-spring rice crop.

Farmers in the Mekong Delta were instructed to start sowing the winter-spring crop last October, nearly a month earlier than usual, to avoid the saltwater intrusion that often occurs at the end of the crop. This has helped farmers get higher output and better prices.

According to Le Thanh Tung, deputy head of the Ministry Agriculture and Rural Development’s Department of Crop Production, nearly 1.6 million hectares planted in the southern region have been harvested so far, with an average yield of 7 tons per hectare, 1.5 million hectares of which are located in Mekong Delta provinces.

The structure of sowing rice is based on the characteristics of ecological subregions. Many have grown fragrant and high-quality rice varieties to meet export demands.

Large-scale rice fields span 160,000 ha. The production fee for each hectare of large-scale rice field dropped by 10% to 15% but gained 20% to 25% more of productivity value. Tung said the delta’s winter-spring rice areas suffered less from drought and saline intrusion and still gave high yields.

He added, “Thanks to proper variety structuring coupled with removing the farming acreages that can’t have sufficient irrigation water, our rice and other crops didn’t suffer great losses from drought and saline intrusion.”

Luong Van Anh, Deputy Director of the General Department of Water Resources, said that anti-drought and saline intrusion systems have been built and put into operation contributing to the bumper crops.

According to Anh, “The irrigation works have resulted in great efficiency for reducing saltwater intrusion over the past year. The General Department has directed its agencies and specialized units of the Ministry to design a process for operation and put it in place."

The winter-spring rice crop turns our the highest productivity than even with stable prices.

Nguyen Ngoc He, the deputy chairman of Can Tho People’s Committee, said Can Tho sowed more than 77,000 hectares of rice and gained an average yield of 7.6 tons per hectare. Local farmers planted mostly specialty, fragrant and high-quality rice varieties, he added.

“Can Tho has basically completed the harvest with the highest yield ever in many years. Local farmers gained a profit of at least 45% in this crop as rice is being sold well,” said He.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said that although the winter-spring rice crop areas decreased, the productivity, especially the profit, was higher than the previous crop.

He said, “This is successful year in regards of productivity, rice varieties, selling price, and especially profit. Though the rice cultivation acreage decreased, productivity grew nearly 240 kilos per hectare and the output rose nearly 150,000 tons.”

The southern region plans to grow rice on 1.6 million hectares in the summer-autumn crop.