VIETNAM, January 11 – H\u00c0 N\u1ed8I \u2014 Vi\u1ec7t Nam must enhance links between farmers and exporters to develop large-scale high-quality paddy fields for sustainable rice export.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vi\u1ec7t Nam had a good year for rice export in 2023 but some limitations must be tackled for the industry to move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that Vi\u1ec7t Nam exported 8.29 million tonnes of rice in 2023 which brought $4.78 billion in value, representing a rise of 16.7 per cent and 38.4 per cent, respectively, over 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are record figures since 1989 when Vi\u1ec7t Nam first started to export rice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
L\u00ea Thanh T\u00f9ng, Deputy Director of the ministry\u2019s Department of Crop Production, said in 2023 supply shortages put global food security at risk. The rice market was tense, especially after India\u2019s ban on regular rice exports, he said, adding that there were times when it seemed that Vi\u1ec7t Nam was about to ban rice exports like 2008 and 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, appropriate solutions were raised to take advantage of the market opportunities while ensuring domestic food security and increasing income for farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ph\u1ea1m Th\u00e1i B\u00ecnh, Chairman of Trung An High-Tech Farming Joint Stock Company, said that Vi\u1ec7t Nam\u2019s rice export had favourable market conditions last year thanks to increasing global demand for food and limited supply. India\u2019s ban pushed up rice prices in the global market to a record high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In that context, Vi\u1ec7t Nam had the advantage of promoting rice export as the domestic rice production had been focusing on improving quality and yield despite decreases in cultivation area, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On average, Vi\u1ec7t Nam produces 43-35 million tonnes of paddy, equivalent to 26-28 million tonnes of rice each year, of which, around 20 million tonnes were for domestic consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, unsustainable factors were revealed when the rice export hit records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are happy that farmers had a successful harvest and good prices in 2023. Meanwhile, many exporters incurred losses of hundreds of billion \u0111\u1ed3ng <\/em>and went bankrupt due to unpredictable rising rice prices,\u201d Nguy\u1ec5n Vi\u1ec7t Anh, director general of Ph\u01b0\u01a1ng \u0110\u00f4ng Food said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reason for this fact lay in the weak linkage between farmers and exporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEnterprises are aware of the benefits of enhancing linkage with farmers in rice production but few could do that because of high costs for maintaining the linkage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, exporters must have a huge volume of cash to purchase rice when the harvest season comes. To do this, enterprises need the Government\u2019s support policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n V\u00f5 Ph\u01b0\u01a1ng Thu\u1ef7, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of \u0110\u1ed3ng Th\u00e1p Province which earned $400 million from rice export last year, said that only 25 per cent of the province\u2019s rice cultivation area was under linkage of farmers and enterprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although 2023 was a successful year in terms of exports at some points of time when rice prices increased dramatically, farmers benefited but enterprises struggled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rice cultivation area under linkage between farmers and enterprises was also modest in Long An Province, which was around 20,000 \u2013 30,000ha or 10 per cent of the province\u2019s total rice cultivation area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The scattered production made it difficult to apply advanced farming techniques to promote the transition to low emission, Nguy\u1ec5n Thanh Tuy\u1ec1n, Director of Long An Province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is critical to establish linkages and produce following the market demands to ensure sustainable export, Tuy\u1ec1n said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLinkage to develop large-scale production is the way to go, not only for the rice industry but also for other farming industries, which would bring benefits to both sides,\u201d B\u00ecnh said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Government has a project for the sustainable development of one million hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice cultivation in line with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030, which encourages the linkage toward high-quality production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n B\u00ecnh, however, said that the support policies should be raised to encourage parties, especially supports in credit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to expert in agriculture V\u00f5 T\u00f2ng Xu\u00e2n, the linkage with farmers would bring a lot of benefits, including ensuring quality and origin traceability, stabilising prices and establishing brands for rice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This also promotes the reorganisation of the Vi\u1ec7t Nam\u2019s rice value chain, he said. \u2014 VNS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" VIETNAM, January 11 – H\u00c0 N\u1ed8I \u2014 Vi\u1ec7t Nam must enhance links between farmers and exporters to develop large-scale high-quality paddy fields for sustainable rice export. Vi\u1ec7t Nam had a good year for rice export in 2023 but some limitations must be tackled for the industry to move forward. Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,447],"tags":[430,418,317,223,218,160,159],"class_list":["post-13551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainable-rice","category-rntsays","tag-rice-farmer","tag-sustainable-farming","tag-sustainable-rice","tag-veitnam-rice","tag-rice-farming","tag-rice-export","tag-global-rice-news"],"acf":{"enable_premium_overlay":false},"yoast_head":"\n