Winter-spring crop yields over 19 million tonnes of rice

Vietnamese farmers harvest rice (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s rice output during the winter-spring crop was estimated at 19.1 million tonnes, a year-on-year decrease of 1.5 percent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Northern localities cultivated rice in an area of more than 1.1 million hectares during the crop, down 1 percent from the same time last year. Rice farming land was reduced 10,600 hectares in red river delta region due to land accumulation and change in purpose of land use.

Rice output in the northern region was estimated at 7.11 million tonnes, declining 2 percent year-on-year. The productivity fall was spurred by widespread diseases, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, total rice farming land for this crop in the southern region was 1.93 million hectares. The region produced nearly 12 million tonnes during the winter-spring crop, dwindling 149,700 tonnes against last year crop. Saline intrusion, diseases and unseasonal rain affected the rice productivity.

Farmers across the country have planted 2.07 million hectares of the summer-autumn crop. The cultivation is blessed by favourable weather conditions. 

Some localities in the Mekong Delta region are getting in the harvest of the early summer-autumn crop with 463,700 hectares, accounting for 25 percent of the total farming land. Rice yield is forecast at 604 kilogrammes per hectare.