KienGiang (VNA) - Kien Giang, the country’s largest rice producer, hasmore than 7,140ha of ‘mua’ rice crop damaged by 30-70 percent because ofsalinity, according to the province’s Plant Cultivation and ProtectionSub-department.

Thedamaged areas are in the districts of An Minh, An Bien and Vinh Thuan.

The ‘mua’ varietyof rice is grown in the rainy season in areas where farming is rainfed. Inthe Mekong Delta province, farmers rotate between ‘mua’ in therainy season and brackish-water shrimp in the dry season in the same fields.

Theearly conclusion of the 2020 rainy season means farmers in An Minh, An Bien andVinh Thuan lack freshwater to wash out the saltwater from their fields from theshrimp farming.

Theaffected fields have lower yields and poor quality, causing losses to farmers.

Besides,more than 8,190ha of the 2020-2021 winter – spring rice and mua ricecrops in the province are affected by rice pests like brown plant hoppers,worms, golden snails, and mice.

Theyhave damaged rice growth and caused rice blast disease, grain discolorationdisease, bacterial leaf blight and other diseases.

Thesub-department has instructed farmers to take measures to prevent rice diseases,protect their fields and regularly monitor them to treat rice diseasesproperly.

Farmersplanted 58,742ha of mua rice in the 2020 rainy season and haveharvested more than 4,720ha, mostly in An Bien and Vinh Thuan districts and HaTien  city. They sell the paddy at a high6,600 – 7,000 VND a kilogramme.

Farmershave planted 282,604ha of 2020-2021 winter – spring rice, or 98 percent of thetarget. Most of the crop is growing well.

Theprovince targets a yield of 7.15 tonnes per hectare and total output of morethan 2 million tonnes of paddy./.