Farmers in Trieu Binh commune are rushing to the fields to harvest rice.

During the 2025-2026 Winter-Spring crop season, Mr. Le Ba Han's household in Ai Tu commune planted 15 sao (500 m2/sao) of rice. Favorable weather conditions resulted in a high yield of 64 quintals/hectare. However, the price of fresh rice was only 5,500 VND/kg, and dried rice 7,000 VND/kg, a decrease of 1,500-2,000 VND/kg respectively compared to last year's Winter-Spring crop. Meanwhile, the high price of diesel fuel increased the cost of caring for and harvesting the rice, reducing the profits of rice farmers.

Mr. Han said that combine harvesters need diesel fuel, which is currently expensive, significantly increasing costs. In addition, fertilizer and harvesting labor costs have also increased, while rice prices have decreased compared to the previous season, resulting in significantly reduced profits. After harvesting, his family only sells a portion of the rice to cover immediate expenses, waiting for prices to rise before selling the remaining crop.

Farmers in Trieu Binh commune are focusing on completing the harvest of over 2,000 hectares of winter-spring rice before May 10th. To date, nearly 90% of the area has been harvested, with an estimated average yield of 65 quintals/hectare, an increase of more than 1.5 quintals/hectare compared to the previous winter-spring crop; the total estimated production is nearly 13,274 tons.

According to Nguyen Thanh Vu, Chairman of the People's Committee of Trieu Binh commune, the cooperatives have mobilized maximum manpower and combine harvesters to complete the rice harvest according to plan, and then urgently prepare the land for planting the Summer-Autumn crop from May 15-20, aiming for harvest before September 2026 to avoid floods.

Besides rising production costs, rice farmers in Quang Tri province are facing another difficulty: large areas of rice ready for harvest have been flattened by recent thunderstorms. Mr. Le Mau Huynh from Ai Tu commune said that the rice, already ripe, has been flattened, making harvesting difficult due to increased labor and higher post-harvest losses. This year, the cost of hiring a combine harvester is 140,000 VND per sao (approximately 1000 square meters), but for fields where the rice has been flattened, the price is 180,000 VND per sao. Furthermore, if the flattened ripe rice is not harvested promptly and is exposed to heavy rain, the rice will sprout.

According to the Quang Tri Provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, the average yield of this year's Winter-Spring crop reached 63-64 quintals/hectare, making it the most bountiful Winter-Spring crop in recent years. Local authorities have been focusing manpower and resources on harvesting the Winter-Spring rice crop, following the principle of preparing the land for the Summer-Autumn crop as soon as the harvest is completed, in order to utilize the remaining water in the fields and avoid floods at the end of the season.

Source: https://www.vietnam.vn/en/