Racing against the weather
According to the agricultural sector of Can Tho City, in the 2025 summer-autumn rice crop, the city has planted 70,764 hectares, reaching 100.8% of the plan. Currently, the area of summer-autumn rice harvested is 1,734 hectares, concentrated in Vinh Thanh, Co Do districts and O Mon district with a yield of nearly 6 tons/ha. The remaining rice area is mostly concentrated in the green to ripe stage.
Currently, farmers planting early in the summer-autumn crop are busy harvesting rice to avoid risks caused by stormy weather.
Since mid-May, farmer Huynh Van Tam (Co Do district, Can Tho city) has harvested about 1 hectare of summer-autumn rice with a yield of nearly 6.5 tons/ha. It is known that this summer-autumn crop, Mr. Tam planted 15 days earlier than planned to avoid the rainy season.
"The rice is just ripe, when traders ask to buy, I sell it immediately, not at a discount. Thanks to that, the rainy season has just arrived, I have finished harvesting, the rice is returned to shore safely, not afraid of falling or flooding, and productivity is guaranteed," said Mr. Tam.
Farmer Nguyen Thi Xua (Co Do district, Can Tho city) also breathed a sigh of relief when 1.5 hectares of her family's rice were almost harvested: "In the past few days, it has been cloudy, sometimes with heavy rain, making me unable to get rid of my intestinal fever. Fortunately, I decided to cut early, although rice prices were lower than the same period, at least not due to productivity loss due to storms".
With nearly 2 hectares of summer-autumn rice in the harvest stage, farmer Nguyen Thanh An (Vinh Thanh district, Can Tho city) is taking advantage of the sunny days to cut and deliver to traders. This farmer believes that, due to complicated weather developments, setting prices and harvesting early is a reasonable way to limit risks to productivity and output.
Guaranteed profits
According to the survey, IR50404 fresh rice is currently purchased by traders at 5,400 - 5,600 VND/kg, OM5451 rice at 6,000 - 6,200 VND/kg, OM18 rice fluctuates around 6,400 - 6,800 VND/kg, Dai Thom rice from 6,800 - 7,200 VND/kg... This price is lower than the same period in 2024, but early harvesters still have profits thanks to good productivity.
After traders bought 6,200 VND/kg of rice (fresh), after deducting all production and harvesting costs, Mr. Tam estimated that the summer-autumn profit ranged from 1.2 - 1.5 million/1,000 m2. Although lower than the last winter-spring crop, Mr. Tam said that this is a good profit and guaranteed for farmers.
Thanks to early harvesting, 1.5 hectares of OM5451 rice of Ms. Xua were harvested safely with a yield of 6 tons/ha. For rented land, after deducting the cost of seeds, fertilizers, and labor, this farmer still makes a profit of about 800,000 - 1 million VND/1,000m2.
For every kg of OM18 fresh rice, Mr. An sells it for 6,800 VND/kg. This price is lower than last year's summer-autumn crop, but thanks to stable productivity, this farmer still makes a profit. With a price of over VND6,000/kg, farmers have made a profit. Instead of waiting for good prices and early sales, I make less profit but feel more secure.
In the context of rainy weather, for rice tea being prepared to harvest, Can Tho City Agriculture industry recommends that farmers should actively contact the means of harvesting and traders in order to keep up the harvest progress and limit losses. On the newly harvested rice tea preparation for the next crop, farmers need to clean the fields, apply phosphorus lining from the beginning of the crop to limit the phenomenon of organic poisoning and ensure the time of relaxation between the two crops from 3 weeks or more.
