The summer-autumn crop: the crop schedule should be observed to gain yield target

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     The province is planning to annually grow 81 thousand of hectares of plants. There will be 50 thousand of hectares mostly cultivating rice and corn. Several large summer-autumn crops are located at such districts as Xuan Loc, Cam My, Tan Phu and Dinh Quan. These areas are now harvesting winter-spring crop and prepare the summer-autumn crop. In many local fields, farmers are making most use of early rains to clear soil and seed plants. According to Dong Nai Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, this year’s rainy season will come earlier than usual. From early April, Dong Nai area has heavy rains. This is the favorite condition for water storage.

     However, provincial Plant Protection Department warns farmers of the outbreak of many insects and diseases affecting the crop due to rains. Therefore, after winter-spring crop, pre-seeding field cleaning should be done completely, particularly the treatment of wild rice and rice stubble as they are the habitat of rice panicle mite and other pests. The minimum time of 3 weeks is set for the seeding. Before seeding, the field needs ploughing and levelling, and digging small ditches to remove alum and facilitate the killing of yellow snails. For rice seed, it is advised to select validated seeds such as selective IR64, OM 4498, OM 6162, VNĐ 95-20, OM 4900, OMCS 2000, OM 50404, AS 996, etc. which are of high ability in drought resistance and recognized by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Besides, those seeds which can be easily attacked by brown plant hopper and blast such as Bac Thom 7, DS20, OM 3536, VD 20, jacmine 85, etc. should be restricted.

      The acceptable period of seeding is from 15 April to 15 May and the seeding should be concurrent within May and then perform quarantine in 20 days at least. Apart from following the crop schedule and above-mentioned rules, when brown hoppers are lowered in the amount, seeds should be soaked to prevent their evasion. The sparse seeding should be strictly abiding with an amount of 100-120 kg/ha (line seeding is recommended) and widely practice “3 decreases and 3 raises” rule. To prevent pests and diseases, seeds must be treated with salt liquid (15%) and seed treatment chemicals are also recommended; regular field study is conducted to eliminate brown hoppers, grassy stunt disease, leaf folder on timely basis; leaf folder, rice blast and sheath blight are seriously harmful for crop. It is warned that plant protection chemicals should be used properly in the principle of 4 rights, safety and effectiveness.

     In addition to late seeding and worry about pests and diseases, farmers also face many difficulties in the summer-autumn crop 2011 due to increased expense (around 50%), particularly the price of fertilizer, pesticide and electricity, etc. Meanwhile, there is a lack of water at several lands, which leads agricultural department to advise farmers to grow short-term industrial plants or corn for yielding guarantee.

Reported by T.Canh, Translated by Minh Minh