Mekong Delta sees drop in Fall-Winter rice areas

Farmers in Vinh Loi district, Bac Lieu province (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Mekong Delta provinces cultivated 355,400 hectares of Fall-Winter rice crops by mid-July, an 8.7 percent drop from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The largest rice areas were reported in Dong Thap, Kien Giang, Hau Giang and Long An provinces and Can Tho City.

Some provinces advised farmers to only grow rice in lands surrounded by good embankments to escape floods; and to ensure a proper period of time between crops.

Vietnam has cultivated more than 2.12 million hectares of Summer-Fall rice crops during the period, up 2 percent year on year. Southern provinces contributed to approximately 90.6 percent of the total area and those from the Mekong Delta accounted for 77.6 percent, down 2.3 percent year on year.

The contraction was largely due to farmers shifting to grow annual and perennial plants.

The later-grown Summer-Fall rice areas have reached the stages of heading and flowering while the early-grown crops have been harvested in an area of 663,700 hectares, accounting for 34.5 percent of the total areas, including 654,300 hectares in the Mekong Delta.

The yield was estimated at around 58.7 quintals per hectare.

Northern Vietnam has finished cultivating its winter rice crop with the early-grown areas in the stage of tillering