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Brown hoppers attack Mekong delta rice fields
Brown hoppers now are devastating over 200,000 ha of newly-planted summer-autumn and autumn-winter rice in Mekong delta provinces, up 39,000 ha over the previous week.
Farmers said there is an estimated 1,000-30,000 insects per sq.m.
Kien Giang, Bac Lieu, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Long An and Soc Trang provinces are the hardest hit.
The insect swarms are expected to further spread over the Mekong delta region in August aided by the southwester in the rainy season.
In addition, rice stunt and rice grassy leaf curl diseases have affected 11,000 ha of rice in the region, with the hard hit being Dong Thap, An Giang, Tra Vinh, Vinh Long, Hau Giang provinces and Can Tho city.
Mekong delta farmers have sprayed insecticides over nearly 82,000 ha.
They were also guided to apply methods to protect newly-planted rice fields from the diseases.
So far, Mekong delta provinces have planted 1.6 million ha of summer-autumn rice crop and 234,000 ha of autumn-winter crop.
VNA
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