June 24, 2011

Vietnam to sow 520,000 hectares of winter crops

Vietnamese northern region expects to cultivate 520,000 hectares of crops in the upcoming winter, rising 12.4% from the same time last year, according to the Cultivation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The average price of winter crop to be between VND25 million (US$1,212) and VND30 million (US$1455) per hectare, depends on concrete conditions of localities, said Nguyen Tri Ngoc, head of the department.

The department encourages farmers to grow corn, soy, potato and leave vegetables.

It warned localities of severe weather conditions in the winter as well as development of pests.

It also called on the irrigation divisions in localities to secure enough water for crops.

Last winter, the northern provinces grew 462,000 hectares of winter crops and harvested 631,000 tonnes of corn, 122,000 tonnes of soy, 238,000 tonnes of potato and 2.7 million tonnes of vegetables.