Dry season rice plan under consideration
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is considering whether the figure for this year’s dry season rice plan should be revised downwards or remain stable after the last four harvests failed to reach the target. Last dry season, farmers planted only about 99,000 hectares or 88 percent of the area targeted, which represented a reduction of 2,210 hectares on the previous crop. The figures were reported to the National Assembly meeting last month by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The major factors influencing the decline in dry season rice plantings included the fact that large numbers of rice farmers, especially those in the northern parts, shifted to growing commercial small crops such as beans, sweetcorn, melons, pumpkins, chilies, eggplants and sweet potatoes. Those farmers reported that their reasons for shifting included lower capital costs as well as better financial returns on their labour. The crops also require less water to supply production and produce three or four times a year. Cold weather and lack of water from irrigation systems are important issues affecting dry season rice production, according to the Department of Agriculture.
