Setting base for Vietnamese rice to throne

Today December 2^nd, the first Vietnam Rice Festival held in Hau Giang closed. As a “coincidence”, during the eventful days of the Festival, the rice market has also gotten hotter day by day. The rice price in the Mekong Delta has reached the “ceiling” of 6,000 VND/kg, being twofold in comparison with the one in the middle of the autumn-summer crop. There are worries from the public opinion: is there a rice fever as it was last year going to take place? The issues of rice growers’ profit, export rice’s quality and brand name, rice stores, methods of selling and buying rice have never been discussed as seriously as they were at the Festival this time.

Rice husked at the factory of Denmark – Hau Giang Food Company

Needs of a new farmer generation

Vietnam Food Association has given an impressive statistics: for over last 20 years, Vietnam has exported around 70 million tons of rice, earning nearly USD 20 billion. Vietnam has its rice market share in most the rice-importing countries: e.g. Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and America. Particularly, export 6 – 6.2 million tons of Vietnam rice Vietnam estimated in 2009, the year of greatest rice export. However, there are a number of issues under this impressive number. Mr. Bui Ba Bong, Deputy Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development, shared: “Rice growers make a great contribution to the food safety and rice export, but they still have low income and live a poor life. This fact should be cares, and practical solutions must be carried out to help the farmers improve their income”. There is one out of every 6 people lacking food in the world. This reminds us that food safety is the vital importance for a nation.

According to Prof., DSc. Bui Chi Buu, the Head of South Vietnam Agricultural Science and Engineering Institute, up to now, rice has been the basic food in 39 countries and geographical regions in the world; providing over 3 billion people with 35%-59% of the energy source. The world’s population now increases by 1 billion people every 14 years on the average. Mankind is facing challenges of decreased cultivation areas (1.5 billion hectares) in 2050, less water for agricultural irrigation but double production.

Vietnamese scientists should do their research toward the following purposes: improving rice strains meeting both requirements of food safety and getting good ability of competition on the quality of agricultural products, increasing the rice growers’ income. Specifically, high-yield and stable rice strains should be developed to break through the highest productivity (over 8-10 tons/ ha/ crop); developing quality rice strains to meet the taste of domestic and foreign markets, higher and higher need of consumption and stable production.

Mr. Bui Ba Bong, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development reminded another worrying fact: There will be no young farmers growing rice in 5 further years if no training plans or no measures for attracting people back to rice growing job are worked out! Young farmers aren’t the people who like “toiling and moiling in the fields” but steering machines in the fields.

Making Vietnamese rice trademark

As forecasted, in 2010, the rice supply in the world will be decreased about 10-20 million tons. The Philippines had a complete loss of 1.4 -1.5 million tons of rice after storms named Ketsana (storm number 9), and Parma (storm number 10) this year. The drought occurred in India, which reduced 15-20 million tons of wet rice - the biggest decrease in the past 15 years. Chances to export rice are “opened wide” for Vietnam. However, experts warn: There will be a high risk to loose markets if Vietnam does not continue improving packaging and maintaining the stable quality of the grain’s homogeneity.

In addition, 2 days ago, China claimed its future planting of genetic changed rice strains, its advantage of farming methods and investment costs, its strategies concentrating 25% on the rice market. If the Chinese plans go well, Vietnam will have to face more rivals.

To improve the quality of rice, don’t pursue quantity but the useful value of rice. Scientists have pointed out weak points in the production and export chains of Vietnam rice currently. The most serious one is the lack of emphasizing on top rice strains associated with rice export markets; isolated and scattered rice production (about 0.4 ha/household); great postharvest loss (11%-13%); poor and insufficient storing system; and the farmers’ rice still sold through a lots of intermediaries, ... Rice export enterprises of “20 years old” themselves have still applied an up-side-down rice processing: processing coarse rice before processing rice for export! This reduces the rice quality and the rice storing time.

Meanwhile, merchants often purchase the farmers’ rice without meeting the moisture standards for husking rice, which reduces the rice grain’s quality from the beginning. Associate Prof., DSc. Duong Van Chin, Deputy Head of Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute said in a pressing manner: “It is necessary to stop immediately the anti-scientific and persisting process of husking the wet rice with 16%-17% moisture”.

“Four houses” solution

It is required for strategic and comprehensive solutions to develop agriculture, farmers, and rural areas. The solution of “uniting regions and involving four houses (including the State, businesses, scientists, farmers” is very important. To solve the problem, the project of “Solution of rice production and consumption through the uniting regions and involving four agents” should be jointly implemented.

The general purpose of this idea is to join hands to carry out the Resolution on food safety, raising the production ability and connecting four houses for increasing the rice growers’ income in the Mekong Delta. The first is that connecting scientific research units such as institutes/ universities for applying scientific and technological advances in strain selection to find the rice strains with stable high-yield, high quality grains, pest and disease resistance, especially resistance to brown backed rice hopper, yellow dwarf disease, twisted leaves dwarf disease,…adjusting to sub-region ecology, and global climatic change.

It is necessary to transfer techniques to produce rice matching the economic integration and global climatic changes, apply high scientific and technological advances in producing rice for obtaining high yield, good quality grains and raising the product value and the farmers’ profits. The ability to produce rice and competition of rice in the Mekong Delta region should be raised from input services to organizing production, storing and reservation, processing and selling, and joining farmers in the chains of supplying and building trade names.

Cao Phong
Source: Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper