Agricultural production in the month focused on tending and harvesting winter and winter-autumn rice nationwide and cultivating winter crops in the North. Although the rice yield increased compared to the same period last year, due to the decrease in cultivated area, the estimated rice yield this year will decrease. Cattle and poultry breeding is developing well, with African pig cholera in many localities being under control. The fishery sector continues to keep the momentum of raising and exploiting output.
In 2019, the whole crop of rice in the country was 1,621.9 thousand hectares, equaling 96.4% of the previous year's crop, of which the Northern provinces reached 1,075.9 thousand hectares, equaling 97.4% (down 28.3%). thousand ha); Southern provinces reached 546 thousand hectares, equaling 94.3% (decreasing 33.1 thousand hectares). The area under rice cultivation decreased this year due to the Northern provinces' conversion of land use purposes, production structure change, lack of agricultural labor and the impact of prolonged heat waves causing irrigation water shortages. In the South, the hot weather caused drought in some localities, shifting the crop structure from winter rice to winter-spring rice in Ca Mau, saline soils are the main causes that reduce the area of winter rice in the whole region.
The harvest of winter rice in 2019 is faster than the same period last year due to early planting. By mid-October, the country had harvested 888.7 thousand hectares, accounting for 54.8% of the cultivated area and equaling 101.7% of the same period last year. In which, Northern provinces harvested 711.1 thousand ha, accounting for 66.1% of the cultivated area and equaling 101.2%; Southern provinces harvested 177.6 thousand ha, accounting for 32.5% of the cultivated area and equaling 103.7%.
Although the weather in the hot season is much hotter than the average of many years, due to the intermittent rain, the water source is guaranteed, farmers actively cultivate, rice grows and develops well, and localities are actively changing crop structure, using quality rice varieties, applying technical advances to production, promptly preventing epidemics on crops, so the rice yield of this year is estimated to reach 49.9 quintals/ha, increased by 0.8 quintals/ ha over the previous year. However, due to the decrease in cultivated area, this year's rice production is estimated at 8.09 million tons, down 176.6 thousand tons from the previous crop.
Along with tending and harvesting winter rice, localities across the country basically finished the summer-autumn rice production with the cultivated area of 2,009.3 thousand hectares, down 43.7 thousand hectares compared to the summer-autumn crop in 2018, in which some localities have decreased summer rice area: Kien Giang decreased by 14.4 thousand hectares due to changing crop structure from summer to autumn and winter; Tien Giang is down 11.9 thousand hectares; Binh Thuan decreased by 4.7 thousand hectares; Dong Thap decreased 2.3 thousand hectares. As of mid-October, the country had harvested 2,004.2 thousand hectares of summer-autumn rice, equaling 97.6% of the last summer-autumn crop, of which the Mekong River Delta harvested 1,565.7 thousand hectares, equaling 97.6%.
Generally, for 10 months, the damaged forest area was 3.2 thousand ha, 3 times as much as the same period last year, of which the burnt forest area was 2.7 thousand ha, nearly 5 times; the area of cut and destroyed forests is 517 ha, up 2%.
Generally, in the first 10 months of 2019, fishery production was estimated at 6,698.7 thousand tons, up 5.4% over the same period last year, of which aquaculture production reached 3,541.4 thousand tons, up 6.2%; fishing production reached 3,157.3 thousand tons, an increase of 4.4% (marine production reached 2,991.7 thousand tons, an increase of 4.7%).
