HCM City (VNS/VNA) - The Mekong Delta’s 12 provinces and Can Thocity are increasingly switching to smart rice farming to improve yields and cutcosts and protect the environment.

They use fewer seeds and lesspesticides and fertilisers compared to traditional farming methods withoutlosing out on yield or quality.

Smart rice farming also involvesthe use of advanced technologies like smart rice seeding and transplantingmachines and other smart devices.

Hau Giang province adopted themodel on 12ha of rice belonging to 12 farmers in Vi Thuy district’s Vi Thang communein April.

The farmers use seeding andtransplanting machines integrated with smart fertiliser applicators and pesticidesprayers. These can sow rice seeds or transplant rice seedlings, bury smartfertilisers and spray pesticides at the same time.     

The model uses fertiliser deepplacement method, which involves placing fertiliser briquettes under thesoil.

Pham Minh Quang, one of the 12farmers, grows 2ha of rice. He said the briquettes release the fertilisergradually based on the plants' requirements during the growing period so thatthey do not suffer from an oversupply of urea and thus diseases.

“I had to pray pesticides justonce since the beginning of this rice crop to prevent rice blast disease.”

Phan Van Binh, head of the Vi ThuyPlant Protection Division, said the model would help protect the environmentsince it reduces the use of urea.

The fertiliser deep placementmethod is used only once during the crop when sowing the seeds, he said.

The use of pesticides alsoreduces significantly and rice planted under the model can grow more naturally,he said.

Nguyen Van Kinh, Chairman of theVi Thang Commune People’s Committee, said the commune is cooperating withrelevant units to monitor the model, and it would be expanded in the districtif it proves efficient. 

In Dong Thap and Tra Vinhprovinces, farmers have used smart rice farming to good effect. Their use ofurea has declined by around 40 percent and the cost of labour for fertilisingtheir fields by 75 percent.

Fertiliser deep placement hashelped reduce greenhouse gases by 40 percent when used with alternate wettingand drying irrigation.  

Smart farming reduces the amountof water required for irrigation by 30 percent and the labour cost and seedrequirement by 50 percent.

It also reduces saltwaterintrusion into rice fields since farmers can actively regulate freshwaterthrough smart devices that monitor the quality of water.

The profit from this model is 20 percenthigher than from traditional methods, according to farmers.

Nguyen Van Khi, a member of theThang Loi Agricultural Services Cooperative in Dong Thap’s Thap Muoi districtand who has used smart rice farming for three years, said irrigation water isregulated by smart devices operated through smart phones.            

Dong Thap is seeking to reducerice production costs and improve quality and expand farming models that use advancedtechnologies, especially the smart rice farming model in Thap Muoi, accordingto its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.      

In Tien Giang province, theAgriculture Extension Centre encourages farmers to expand smart rice farming thatuses smart rice seeding and transplanting machines integrated with smartfertiliser applicators and pesticide sprayers.  

It recently introduced this modelin Cai Be and Go Cong Dong districts and achieved good harvests.

The My Quoi Agricultural ServiceCooperative in Cai Be grew 1ha of rice using the model in the spring-summercrop this year.

It sowed 50 kilogrammes of OM5414 rice seeds and harvested 6.6 tonnes per hectare, 0.8 tonnes higher thanunder traditional models, which used up to 150kg of seeds.

Tran Thi Cam Nhung, deputy headof the centre’s technology division, said the cooperative’s members earn 4.7 millionVND (200 USD) per hectare more than traditional farmers.    

The National AgricultureExtension Centre, the Southern Plant Protection Centre and agricultureextension centres around the delta have been running a smart rice farmingprogramme to adapt to climate change since 2016.

Under it, the delta’s 12provinces and Can Tho have tried 195 different models so far.

The delta, the country’s ricegranary, has nearly 1.7 million hectares of rice fields, with 300,000 –400,000ha affected by saltwater intrusion through rivers in the dry season.-VNS/VNA