The "mission" of Vietnamese rice in the new era

Vietnamese farmers and rice plants are facing the challenge of developing in what direction to reach the rich destination according to Resolution 120/NQ-CP?

Harvesting ST25 rice in Soc Trang .

Resolution 120/NQ-CP of the Government on sustainable development of the Mekong Delta adapting to climate change, issued at the end of 2017, marked a milestone in the history of Vietnamese agriculture , paving the way for all sectors of Vietnamese society to realize President Ho Chi Minh's saying : "If our farmers are rich, our country will be rich. If our agriculture is prosperous , our country will be prosperous. If farmers want to be rich , if agriculture wants to be prosperous, there must be cooperatives . "

Uncle Ho wrote this sentence in a letter to the landlords and farmers on April 11, 1946. Now, with Resolution 120, a few farmers have converted their rice fields to grow non-rice products, but because of spontaneity, each person invested their own money, the fields were fragmented, so the efficiency was not high. What direction are Vietnamese farmers and rice plants facing to develop to reach the goal of wealth according to Resolution 120/NQ-CP?

Vietnamese rice must fulfill both a political task to ensure food security for the whole society and an economic task, creating conditions for farmers to get rich.

Since the end of the war, Vietnamese rice has successfully fulfilled its mission of food security and social security. Rice has brought fame to Vietnam, a small country but ranked in the top 3 rice exporting countries in the world. However, rice has not brought wealth to the rice farmers themselves. Recently, the 2022 Annual Economic Report of the Mekong Delta published by the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) showed that in order to increase income in a stable and sustainable manner for farmers in this largest rice growing region of our country, it is necessary to transform the modern agricultural structure according to the market mechanism, sustainable, adaptive, and natural. Thus, Vietnamese rice must both fulfill the political task of ensuring food security for the whole society and the economic task of creating conditions for farmers to get rich.

Regarding the political task of ensuring food security , in the context of unpredictable climate change, in areas with sufficient fresh water throughout the year in the Mekong Delta, such as the land bordering Cambodia, and the northern part of the central Mekong Delta, where there is sufficient fresh water and is never affected by saltwater intrusion, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will plan to produce 2-3 rice crops per year with short-term, high-yield rice varieties, following an organic process with biological fertilizers mixed with a small amount of mineral fertilizers. Some areas in the central and Central Highlands valleys with irrigation systems will continue to produce 2 rice crops according to the above organic process.

Rice harvest in An Giang province.

Regarding economic tasks, creating conditions for farmers to get rich: First of all, the southern part of the central Mekong Delta, where a large area of ​​rice is being grown three crops a year with low efficiency, consuming fresh water from the upper food security area, needs to change its agricultural structure to both save fresh water in the dry season and store excess flood water in the rainy season.

Transforming the agricultural structure of this region will eliminate some 3-rice areas to create high-end crop production areas, large fruit farms (mango, durian, longan, rambutan, avocado, pineapple, lemon...) of thousands of hectares, or 2-rice farms combined with giant freshwater prawn farming.

The State will use public investment to repair or build new dike and ditch areas for newly established cooperatives to serve as a supply chain for raw materials for branded processing enterprises with stable output.

With such a comprehensive transformation of agricultural structure according to the value-added chain, farmers will certainly achieve profits many times higher than growing rice, and will have savings to get rich (depending on the crops and livestock in the canal system).

For the coastal areas of the Mekong Delta, where salt water floods the banks every year during the dry season, we can create conditions for farmers to grow high-quality short-term rice during the rainy season, and the rice will be harvested when the rainy season ends. Then, while the rice fields are still wet, farmers let the salt water flood the fields to prepare for the technical process of shrimp farming during the dry season. Farmers can earn 4 times more than rice if they follow the correct process of rice (during the rainy season) - shrimp (during the dry season).

In the Northern Delta, farmers can get rich if they are organized to convert rice fields to grow lychees, longans, etc. in the supply chain of raw materials for businesses with tight contracts. Even if we have talented businesses that find customers in North America, Northern Europe, or the Middle East to buy potatoes, it will be very lucky for farmers growing winter crops in the Red River Delta because winter potatoes are harvested in February-March, right when fresh potatoes from temperate countries have just been consumed.

With the determination to implement Resolution 120/NQ-CP of the Government on sustainable development of the Mekong Delta adapting to climate change, with the direction of the State along with public investment budget to create necessary infrastructure for the transformation of agricultural structure; clearly defining the mission of Vietnamese rice in the new period; developing agriculture according to the value chain from planning to organizing production and distribution to domestic and foreign customers, our farmers will certainly be rich, our country will also be rich.

Professor VO TONG XUAN

Source: https://nhandan.vn/su-menh-cay-lua-viet-nam-trong-thoi-ky-moi-post721277.html