5 solutions for the summer-autumn crop in Nghe An

The project to organize production of the 2024 summer-autumn crop in Nghe An has been deployed by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of this province for localities to implement.

In this year’s summer-autumn production season, Nghe An aims to strive to cultivate 56,900 hectares of rice, with an average yield of 51 quintals/hectare, and an output of 290,190 tons. In addition, 12,000 hectares of corn are planted, including 3,000 hectares of biomass corn; 680 hectares of peanuts; 2,200 hectares of all kinds of beans; 2,600 hectares of sesame and 11,400 hectares of other vegetables. Compared to the summer-autumn crop of 2023, the area, yield and output of basic crops will not increase because the risk of heat and drought in this production season may be more serious.

The risk of heat and drought is very serious

Never before has Nghe An been in March, not even summer yet, but the heat has already risen above 41 degrees Celsius in the districts of Tuong Duong, Nghia Dan, Do Luong…, it has not rained for a long time since the beginning. this year again.

According to the forecast of the Meteorological and Hydrological Station of the North Central Region, from May to July, hot weather will appear more often than the average for many years (TBNN), the intensity of heat will be severe, and the temperature will be higher. The air from March to September is 1 – 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than the average for the same period. In particular, the temperature in May, June, and July in Nghe Tinh in general and Nghe An in particular is higher than the average of over 1 degree Celsius. .5 degrees Celsius due to the influence of strong southwest winds (Laos winds).

Rainfall from March to June and July is 10 – 20% lower than average for the same period. Meanwhile, irrigation water sources serving agricultural production in 1,061 large and small dams in the province as of the end of April 2024 show: The number of dams managed by irrigation companies is 103. , of these only 8 lakes are still full of water, accounting for 7.7%. There are 76 lakes whose current water capacity is only 50 – 70% of the design capacity and the remaining 19 lakes are basically dry.

The number of lakes and dams managed by localities is 958. Of these, there are currently 186 lakes full of water, accounting for 19.41%; There are 537 lakes whose current water capacity reaches 50 – 70% of the design capacity, accounting for 56.05%. The remaining 235 lakes currently have water capacity below 50% to 20% of the design.

Ban Ve Hydropower Lake upstream of Lam River is the largest reservoir in the Central region with a designed capacity of up to 1.83 billion m3 of water, currently the water in the lake is only 1.43 billion m3, reaching 78.2%. compared to design capacity.

The flow rate in large rivers such as Lam River, Con River, Hieu River… is at an unprecedented low. Lam River provides irrigation water for 19,000 hectares of rice in the districts of Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc, Vinh City and Cua Lo town, which is at risk of depletion.

The above weather phenomena, along with the reality of existing irrigation water sources in lakes, dams, rivers and streams… warn in advance that heat and drought will be very serious for the summer-autumn production season and even upcoming crop. Therefore, all production facilities and farmers need to proactively take measures to minimize damage caused by weather.

Some key measures need to be applied

With just over 10 days left, many localities in Nghe An will enter the spring rice harvest, followed by immediate sowing of summer-autumn rice. But this year’s summer-autumn production season is facing major difficulties caused by the weather. Therefore, localities and farmers need to implement the following measures well:

The first: According to preliminary reports of districts, cities, and towns, this year’s summer-autumn crop, initially the whole province has 4,265 hectares of rice cultivation that are at risk of severe drought, do not have enough water for irrigation, and have to switch to other crops. . This number could be even higher because the heat and drought are likely to last longer and be even more severe.

Therefore, localities, especially highland areas, areas at the end of canals, electric pumping areas along rivers and watering areas of dams and reservoirs that are now nearly dry to the bottom… should proactively calculate and balance source capacity. Is irrigation water guaranteed throughout the entire production season? If there is not enough water for irrigation, proactively switch to planting short-term, drought-resistant crops such as biomass corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts, sesame, beans and other vegetables.

Monday: You should only cultivate rice varieties with a growing time of 100 days or less such as: Khang Dan Mutant, Khang Dan 18, TBR 97, PC6, HN6, SV181, Viet Lai 20… These rice varieties have moderate productivity. quite high, has a short duration, allows early harvest to avoid rain, floods, and storms at the end of the season, and has less time to use water for irrigation.

Tuesday: All localities and farmers absolutely should not drain dry water in the fields before harvesting spring rice… Water must be retained so that after harvesting spring rice, the land will be planted immediately for summer-autumn rice in time for the crop.

Wednesday: Sow early and quickly, sow seedlings for transplanting, limit sowing during the summer-autumn production season. Specifically, planting should be completed before June 10 to basically finish harvesting before September 5, no later than September 10 to avoid the rainy season and storms and floods that often occur in Nghe An after September 10. 9 onwards.

Seedlings should be sown, 8-10 days before harvesting spring rice for transplanting. Doing so will help push the growing time of the rice crop forward, shortening the growing time so that it can be harvested early before the rainy and stormy season occurs.

Limit sowing (direct sowing) because sowing requires draining dry fields before sowing. Doing so will waste water, while we are struggling to create water sources to fight drought. Unlike the Northern provinces, the hot season in Nghe An also has the southwest wind (Lao wind) causing high air temperature, very low air humidity, and strong water evaporation, making it easy for serious droughts to occur. . In areas where rice is often sown during this season, it must be harvested 8-10 days later than sowing rice for transplanting. It is very easy to encounter storms that cause severe flooding during harvest.

Thursday: Actively prevent pests and mice. According to the forecast of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection of Nghe An province, the 2024 summer-autumn crop is likely to appear many harmful pests such as rats, stem borers, leaf rollers, brown planthoppers, leaf blight, sheath blight… Production facilities and farmers need to have plans to organize rat extermination, early detection of harmful pests and diseases for timely prevention according to the guidance of the plant protection department from the province to the district, city and town.