Harvesting rice. Photo: agroviet

Nhan Dan – The country has finished harvesting the 2009 winter-spring rice with an output of 18.6 million tonnes, up 312,000 tonnes compared to the last crop, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The average yield was also increased by 0.1 quintal a hectare to 60.9 quintals a hectare.

In the northern provinces, thanks to the favourable weather conditions, the natural water source is enough for the cultivation of 1.15 million hectares of winter-spring rice. The output is estimated to reach 6.8 million hectares, up 120,000 tonnes over the previous crop.

In the southern provinces, farmers also has a bumper rice crop due to the favourable climatic conditions along with many effective measures on controlling diseases and expanding cultivated areas. Because of the increasing cultivated area, the output of the Cuu Long river delta also went up by 23,000 tonnes to 9.8 million tonnes against the previous crop.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also asked the southern provinces to sow rice seeds for the summer and autumn-winter rice crop in combination with encouraging farmers to expand cultivated area and increase the number of crops per year.