No. 1 Phuoc Son Agricultural Cooperative has 552 hectares of rice fields, including 120 hectares along Dong Dyke, which have been affected by salt erosion. Consequently, production costs increase but economic values gained is low.
In recent years, salt waters have been encroached further into the fields as impact of climate change. Local farmers have to increase 2-3 times of seeds sown but the rice plants often die.
Given such situation, in this year Autumn crop, Tuy Phuoc Service for Agriculture Promotion and the cooperative collaborates to implement model of “Improve techniques of rice production in the alum and salt contaminated low-land rice fields along Dong Dyke” at Vinh Quang 2 hamlet.
The model is being performed in an area of 5 hectares with participation of 43households. After 3 months of transferring new intensive cultivation techniques, the model’s rice fields are yielding high, bringing fairly good profits.
OM 6677 rice variety is used in the model because it can bear the alum and salt contaminated low lands. The household participants are guided in practicing new techniques, such as putting down lime to improve the land fertility, putting down phosphate, nitrogenous, urea and kali fertilizers before sowing the seeds.
Hence, almost of the rice seeds grow; percentage of the seed loss significantly reduces. Particularly, the rice plants grow well due to the well-balanced fertilizers. The OM677 rice variety resists insects and diseases well, leading lower costs for pesticides and higher quality of the rice products.
The service and the cooperative have just organized an at-field workshop to review the outcomes of the model.
In general, average output of the rice fields under the model is 67.5 quintals/ha, over 1.4 quintals/ha higher than control fields with DV108 rice variety. Profits from the impedimental fields is 28.9 million VND/ha, 6.5 million VND/ha higher than the control fields.
The above successes are evidences of promising prospects for the model’s expansion to another 800 hectares of the alum and salt contaminated low land rice fields at 4 communes of Dong region in Tuy Phuoc district.
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