The following article appeared in the Saigon Giai Phong Daily, June 1, 2010
Farmers face hardships due to faulty rice seeds
Sai Gon Gai Phong (June 1, 2010)
Hundreds of farming households in the central province of Binh Dinh are experiencing hardships, as the Nhi uu 838 hybrid rice seeds, sowed for winter-spring harvest, have not sprouted.
Farmers are at a loss as to what to do and are pressed for time.
Ngo Thi Kim Anh, of the Trung Dinh village and Nhon An commune, said she had to buy new rice seeds from several places three days ago in order to sprout the roots before sowing.
The hybrid cultivar Nhi uu 838 rice seeds that she bought at An Nhon District’s Economic Department did not sprout, so she plans to return them to the department.
Anh said her family has just 720 square meters to cultivate rice with two crops per year, so she has to choose rice seeds with the highest output. However, when it came time to sow them on May 25, all eight kilograms of rice seeds had failed to sprout and smelled sour like vinegar, Anh said.
All households of the Nhon An commune have voiced similar complaints about the Nhi uu 838 rice seed failing to sprout.
Chau Thi Hong Loan, from the Thuan Thai village, said most farming families have used the Nhi uu 838 rice seed for many years but this time they have forced us into a difficult situation.
The hybrid seeds cost VND25,000 (US$1.3) per kilogram, although farmers have to pay just VND15,000 (US$0.8) per kilogram, with remainder paid for by the An Nhon District.
Loan said to fill her 1,800 square meters of rice field, she bought 12 kilograms of seed for VND180,000 ($9.4). However, the entire crop failed to sprout, causing her great distress.
Confronted with situation of bad rice seeds, Bui Van Cu, Chairman of Nhon An Commune People’s Committee, said that the number of farmers using hybrid rice seed Nhi uu 838 has increased, so the commune bought 3.3 tons of the rice seed from the An Nhon District.
The rice seeds brought to the Nhon An commune were supplied by the Southern Seed Company, Cu said.
Commune authorities do not know why the rice seeds did not sprout, so commune cadres have to help farmers to find new rice seeds to avoid using rice for sowing.
It is not the first time the Nhi uu 838 hybrid has not sprouted. In the Summer- Spring 2008, hundreds of farmers of the Nhon Loc and Nhon Phuc communes returned rice seeds to Viet Hoa Investment and Development Co.Ltd for this same failure.
Le Dinh An, a cadre of encouraging agricultural expansion in the Nhon An commune, admitted the Nhi uu 838 rice seed not sprout. The commune is checking the rice seeds to make measures to resolve the issue and compensate to farmers, said An.