Proactively produce the 2025-2026 Winter-Spring crop: Adapt to climate change, expand the market

(Chinhphu.vn) - On September 9, in Dong Thap, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment coordinated with the People's Committee of Dong Thap province to organize a conference to review crop production in 2025 and deploy the plan for the 2025-2026 Winter-Spring crop for the Southern region.

Rice prices have recently decreased continuously following fluctuations in the world market, directly affecting farmers' income in the Mekong Delta provinces - Photo: VGP/LS

  Southern agricultural production overcomes difficulties

The report at the conference showed that in 2025, crop production in the Mekong Delta and the Southeast will continue to face many challenges from climate change. The 2024-2025 Winter-Spring crop will be affected by drought and saltwater intrusion, although not too serious, but still causing difficulties for farmers. The Summer-Autumn and Autumn-Winter crops will be affected by heavy rains, storms, and strong winds, causing localized flooding, reducing crop yield and quality.

In addition, the prices of fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds remain high due to fluctuations in the global supply chain, causing production costs to increase and profits to decrease. Meanwhile, Vietnamese agricultural products face international competition pressure, with many new strict regulations on traceability, making consumption difficult and prices unstable.

For rice, the total sown area in the Southern region reached over 4.1 million hectares, an increase of 2,740 hectares compared to the previous year. The average yield was 63.43 quintals/ha, the output was 26.123 million tons, an increase of 183,000 tons. In particular, the 2024-2025 Winter-Spring crop achieved the highest yield: 72.37 quintals/ha, an increase of 0.87 quintals/ha, the output was nearly 11.5 million tons, an increase of 290,000 tons compared to the same period. The Summer-Autumn crop sowed 1.54 million hectares, with a yield of 58.35 quintals/ha; the Winter-Winter crop sowed 275,000 hectares, with a yield of nearly 53 quintals/ha; the Autumn-Winter crop sowed 708,600 hectares, with a yield of 58.5 quintals/ha.

The bright spot is that farmers are increasing the area of ​​fragrant rice and high-quality rice for export. The provinces of Tay Ninh, An Giang , and Dong Thap maintain large areas of sticky rice. In particular, many models in the 1 million hectare project have applied sparse sowing, only 60-70 kg/ha, helping to reduce costs, improve productivity and quality and are being replicated.

Thanks to that, as of August 15, 2025, the country's rice exports reached 5.87 million tons, worth 3 billion USD, an increase of 2.9% in volume compared to the same period in 2024. However, rice prices have recently decreased continuously following fluctuations in the world market, directly affecting farmers' income.

Industrial crops and fruit trees: Still many 'bottlenecks'

By 2025, the area of ​​rice land converted to other crops or combined with aquaculture in the South will reach 38,700 hectares, of which the Mekong Delta accounts for 38,200 hectares. Types include annual crops 30,500 hectares, perennial crops 2,400 hectares, rice cultivation combined with aquaculture 5,800 hectares, and grass cultivation 10.9 hectares.

The region also maintains large areas of industrial crops: Cashew 182,000 hectares (yield 10.7 tons/hectare), coffee 21,500 hectares, rubber 439,000 hectares, pepper 34,000 hectares, coconut 179,000 hectares.

Fruit trees alone continue to grow strongly, with an estimated output of 7.29 million tons in 2025, of which 5.922 million tons will be reached in the first 9 months of 2025. The cropping pattern is increasingly expanding, especially with 5 main fruits (dragon fruit, mango, rambutan, durian, longan), with a cropping area of ​​43,000 hectares, accounting for 50.7% of the area, with an output of 884,000 tons.

However, production links are still limited, and farmers still cultivate on a small scale. Many types of exported fruits, especially durian, are facing difficulties as the Chinese market tightens quality control and checks for heavy metal residue, causing customs clearance to slow down. Domestic durian prices are at times only 40-50% of the same period last year, causing profits for gardeners to decrease.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Hoang Trung visits the booth of equipment for measuring greenhouse gas emissions in crop production - Photo: VGP/LS

Winter-Spring crop 2025-2026: Increase area, tighten quality

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the 2026 rice production plan in the South is 4.119 million hectares, nearly the same as last year, of which the Mekong Delta is more than 4 million hectares, the Southeast is 106,600 hectares. The expected output increases by 20,700 tons.

For fruit trees, the area is 503,000 hectares, the output is 7.6 million tons, an increase of 23,100 hectares and 308,000 tons compared to 2025. Particularly, perennial industrial trees in the Southeast remain stable at over 850,000 hectares.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Hoang Trung emphasized at the conference: “Cadmium residue in exported agricultural products is a hot issue that needs to be thoroughly resolved. Units must closely follow the rice production of the Autumn-Winter and Summer-Autumn crops in 2025, and at the same time develop a plan for the Winter-Spring crop in 2025-2026 that is suitable for water resources and salinity. The Ministry will also strengthen inspection of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, support the issuance of growing area codes and packaging codes; promote training on pest management, disseminate technical advances; and negotiate to remove barriers and expand agricultural export markets.”

Voices from local and experts

Mr. Mai Van Hao, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, emphasized: “The quality of crop varieties is very important, determining production costs and efficiency. People need to limit and eventually stop using pesticides to ensure the health of the soil, producers and consumers.”

Representatives of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of An Giang province proposed investing in infrastructure for phase 2 of the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice associated with green growth, while promoting the certification of "Vietnamese green rice" and training to improve cooperative capacity.

Mr. Le Ha Luan, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dong Thap province, proposed that the Ministry soon issue a circular guiding the management of growing area codes and packaging codes and advise the Government to issue a decree on penalties for violations in this field.

Ms. Le Thi Anh Tuyet, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dong Nai province, said: "After implementing the two-level government, it is necessary to soon add specialized experts at the commune level. In particular, it is necessary to clarify the roles between farmers, businesses and the State, because this is a bottleneck in durian export."

Le Son

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/chu-dong-san-xuat-vu-dong-xuan-2025-2026-thich-ung-bien-doi-khi-hau-mo-rong-thi-truong-102250909152836342.htm