Thanks to the increased rice yield and selling price of the Summer-Autumn crop, farmers in Dong Thap earned 40-50 million VND per hectare.
Mr. Tran Van Be, planting 1.2 hectares of OM5451 rice in My Dong commune, Thap Muoi district, said the yield is about 8 tons per hectare, about 20% higher than the Winter-Spring crop. Each kilogram of rice the farmer sells for 8,600 VND, after deducting costs, he earns about 50 million VND per hectare.
“Despite the severe drought, this area has enough water for irrigation. Rice has few pests and diseases, so everyone wins the crop and costs are low,” Mr. Be said, saying this is the first year the summer-autumn rice yield is higher than the winter crop. Spring – is the main rice crop of the year.
Mr. Tran Van Be, Thap Muoi district, Dong Thap province won big in the 2024 Summer-Autumn rice crop. Photo: Ngoc Tai
The Mekong Delta provinces usually produce three rice crops a year. Depending on when the flood water recedes, the ability to regulate water, and the density of pests, the plant protection industry will schedule sowing earlier or later. This year, the seeding area is about 1.4 million hectares for the Summer-Autumn crop, mostly from March, meaning the main crop falls in June-July.
In provinces with large rice areas such as An Giang (more than 200,000 hectares) and Kien Giang (260,000 hectares), some districts begin harvesting from the end of this month. Dong Thap is a watershed province with fresh water sources all year round, so farmers in Thap Muoi and Cao Lanh areas often proactively plant seeds for the Summer-Autumn crop earlier, harvesting in early May.
With 30 years of experience growing rice, Mr. Be said that the summer crop often rains at the end of the season, causing the rice to collapse, reducing productivity and quality, but this crop is almost sunny all season, pests and diseases are also clearly reduced. “We usually have to spray 6-8 times for pests, but this year it was reduced by half,” Mr. Be said.
Ms. Nga’s rice is gathered on the road and is praised by many field owners for more successful rice than in previous years. Image: Ngoc Tai
Similarly, Ms. Tran Thi Nga, in Nhi My commune, Cao Lanh district, just harvested nearly 2 hectares of rice, yielding nearly 8 tons per hectare. After being cut, the rice is carried to the street by machine, waiting for the trader to weigh it. The pile of rice is longer than usual.
“Rice was sold for 8,400 VND per kilogram. This case was successful so everyone was happy,” she said, adding that this case did not require spraying pesticides to kill rice blast and leaf scorch, reducing costs by 20-30%. To sum up this case, Ms. Nga made a profit of 40 million VND per hectare.
According to the Dong Thap Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the Summer-Autumn crop, the province sowed nearly 120,000 hectares of rice, the cost (production cost) per kilogram of rice was at 3,400-3,600 VND, profit was about 30 million VND per hectare, increased by 6-7 million over the same period.
Mr. Nguyen Van Don, Director of Viet Hung Co., Ltd. (Tien Giang), said that currently the rice export market is not as vibrant as before, but the food demand of other countries is still quite large, especially Indonesia. Meanwhile, the Summer-Autumn crop has just been harvested in some provinces, the yield is not much, pushing up rice prices.
According to the General Department of Customs, in the first quarter, Vietnam exported nearly 2.2 million tons of rice, with an average price of more than 653 USD/ton, earning 1.4 billion USD, an increase of more than 17% in volume and more than 45% in value. value compared to last year.
Ngoc Tai