If productivity isn’t met, officials have to compensate people for rice

“Each rice harvest in my house is filled with two clay jars. Now if you plant a new variety and the rice doesn’t fill 2 jars, you’ll have to do it yourself. “You can do it however you want,” a resident of Cac Son township put terms to Mr Truong as township officials mobilized people to change local farming practices and crop structure.

The director of the cooperative, Nguyen Nhu Truong, has been with the Cac Son agricultural cooperative (Nghia Son, Thanh Hoa) for a long time and therefore has a good sense of the characteristics and quality of the rice varieties planted. Therefore, it is not difficult for the relatives to set conditions for Mr. Truong: “You can boldly plant new varieties. If the next harvest does not fill the glass, I will pay for it,” Truong said confidently.

Mr. Truong said that until now, people have only been “faithful” to the ancient rice variety and therefore have not boldly changed the crop structure in the fields.

“Relatives are used to the free production method, but they like to ‘eat well and wear long,’ so many people do not dare to take the risk of change. In addition, many households now not only pay attention to the yield, but also to the quality of the rice. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to mobilize and persuade people to change their attitude towards agricultural production. To achieve this, cadres and party members must be the first to be followed,” Truong said.

Another time, Mr. Truong faced ongoing difficulties from households when this cadre mobilized people to plant Thuy Huong 308 rice.

“Even though the rice variety has been introduced into the local farming structure, people still don’t really believe in it. They asked the staff: When cultivating other varieties of rice, the average yield must be 3 quintals/Sao. Can the officials pay the farmers if the new varieties are not so productive? “If officials don’t understand the field or the characteristics of each variety, people will be reprimanded in front of people’s questions and will definitely fail when introducing new varieties for sowing,” Truong said.

Before the people’s endorsement, Mr. Truong had to explain for a while: “If the family does exactly what I say, the productivity will meet and exceed the plan.” For example, a stake has to fertilize/harvest 500 kg of manure and 25 kg of phosphate fertilizer twice . In addition, farmers must apply the right technical process from seed to harvest to ensure rice development. If I do it right but my productivity is low, I take responsibility.”

To mobilize people to change their farming practices and plant new high-yielding and high-quality varieties, Cac Son Agricultural Cooperative and Vietnam Seed Group Joint Stock Company (Vinaseed) organized a workshop to introduce new varieties of rice so that people could use them with their own can test eyes.

“Farmers are of the opinion that ‘Hundreds of hearing is not equal to seeing’. To make people believe in cultivating Thuy Huong 308 rice, officials from the cooperative and Vinaseed cooked rice directly in the commune people’s committee and invited people to taste it. In addition, farmers are trained by technical staff from sowing to harvest. When Vinaseed farmers were educated and committed to productivity and quality, they started to trust and grow new varieties,” said Mr. Truong.

In the spring harvest of 2023, the municipality of Cac Son planted about 100 ha of Thuy Huong 308 rice variety. At this point, the rice has started to ripen and promises a high yield. In particular, this rice variety is not infected like some other varieties in the spring of 2023.

“In many places, the entire field was infected with powdery mildew, but Thuy Huong 308 rice alone was not infected. This rice variety is heavily tillering, cold tolerant and resistant to pests and diseases. “The yield of Thuy Huong rice in Cac Son township is expected to be between 3.3 and 3.5 hundredweight/Sao,” Truong said.

Mr. Truong added that in the spring harvest of 2023-2024, the cooperative will cultivate Thuy Huong 308 rice on an area of ​​300-350 ha, which is half of the rice cultivation area in Cac Son Municipality.

No pesticides had to be sprayed throughout the season

The field of Village 8, Tho Xuong Township, Tho Xuan District (Thanh Hoa), is surrounded by mountains on all sides. Due to the high altitude, the Tho Xuong Township Agricultural Cooperative often has to pump water into the fields to enable production. This is also the first year that the Thuy Huong 308 rice variety is grown at this location.

Spring harvest 2023, Ms. Thurs (Tho Xuong Township) Thuy Huong planted 308 rice in an area of ​​3 Sao. Now her field is about to harvest.

Ms. Sa shared, “I tried transplanting many different varieties, but Thuy Huong 308 has completely different properties. Despite the unsettled weather this year, the Thuy Huong 308 variety did not need to be sprayed with pesticides, but the stem and leaves were still healthy, the rice had good tillering and the seeds were firm.

In the spring harvest of 2023, Tho Xuong Municipality introduced many hybrid and pure rice varieties. In particular, the rice variety Thuy Huong 308 was demonstrated on an area of ​​13 ha.

Mr. Nguyen Tay Nguyen, Director of Tho Xuong Agricultural Cooperative said, “Thuy Huong 308 rice variety has outstanding advantages such as high germination rate at sowing; healthy seedling, fast root formation, good growth, good resistance to pests and diseases and good cold tolerance. So far the rice is about to be harvested, but the leaves are still very healthy…

Surely the Thuy Huong 308 variety will be a perfect substitute for the rice varieties previously grown in Tho Xuong municipality in the next crop.”

Mr. Ho Huu Thanh, Director of Vinaseed Thanh Hoa, said, “Through practical testing, Thuy Huong 308 rice variety adapts to barefoot and is well received by people inside and outside the province. This is a high yielding strain. Great adaptability.” , hardy, resistant to falling, fairly resistant to pests and diseases, rice is clear, fragrant, soft and delicious. These results are the basis for Vinaseed to continue to reproduce this rice variety in different ecological regions.”

Thuy Huong 308 is a 3-line hybrid strain researched and selected by Thuy Hang Seed Company Limited (China), produced and distributed by Vinaseed in the Vietnamese market. This is a cold hardy rice variety that can be grown in either crop.

The growing season of the spring crop in the northern provinces is 130-135 days; Harvest from 105 – 110 days. tree height from 110 – 115 cm; heavy tillering, compact phenotype; small, dark green leaves; large cotton, 28-30 cm long. The number of seeds per cotton is 250 to 270 seeds. The average yield is 8-8.5 tons/ha, with good intensive cultivation 9-10 tons/ha.

Currently, the acreage of Thuy Huong 308 rice in Thanh Hoa province is about 3,000 hectares. In the coming period, with the support of farmers, Vinaseed will continue to supply seeds, conduct demonstrations and share scientific knowledge with farmers to achieve bountiful harvests.