Soldiers help harvest rice

CAN THO — More than 2,000 soldiers and militiamen in Can Tho City are working in rice fields in five local districts to help local farmers harvest their crops on time.

"Two-thirds of them are from farming families, so they are quite familiar with farming work," said Colonel Vu Cao Quan from the Can Tho City Military Command.

For the rest of them, the Military Command co-operated with the departments of Agriculture and Rural Development to assign suitable work to them.

This is the first time local soldiers have been mobilised to help farmers harvest their crops instead of building roads or houses.

Last week, local farmers in Co Do, Thoi Lai, Vinh Thanh, Thot Not and Phong Dien districts faced losing 30,000ha of rice crops due to a severe labour shortage in the imminent wet season.

"We had to pay nearly VND3 million (US$160) - three times higher than previous years - for workers to harvest 1ha of the crop, but even then there were not enough workers to hire," said farmer Le Van Be from Thoi Binh Hamlet.

Dao Chi Anh, secretary of the Co Do District Party Committee, said that he and leaders from other districts had sought help from the city's Military Command and Military Zone No 9.

In response, the command mobilised 2,000 soldiers to help farmers harvest, transport and package the rice.

On Monday afternoon alone, the soldiers harvested hundreds of hectares of rice. A target of 20,000 ha has been set over a 7-day period. — VNS