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Shrinking rice farms get new lease on life
The government plans to protect at least 3.9 million hectares (9.6 million acres) of rice fields to ensure long-term national food security, the media reported Friday.
The move comes amid a global food price surge that has seen grain prices skyrocket and aims to safeguard a core growing area of the national staple food from mushrooming industrial parks, urban areas and golf courses.
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has instructed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to draft a Rice Cultivation Land Management decree and submit it for approval in the third quarter.
Amid the economic boom, rice land – mainly in the Mekong delta around Ho Chi Minh City and the Red River delta around Hanoi – has shrunk from about 4.5 – 4.1 million hectares between 2000 – 2006, the ministry says.
Aside from the building of new factories, rice paddies are also being gobbled up by 123 golf courses that are either in operation or being planned, and which require large amounts of water and pesticides, the media said.
Rice prices have shot up this year, helping to drive inflation in Vietnam to 25 percent year-on-year in May.
The government has sought to assure the 86 million citizens that the country, the world’s number two rice exporter, has sufficient stocks and threatened to punish speculators who are driving up prices.
Following what farm groups describe as a bumper crop, Vietnam plans to lift a temporary halt on new rice export contracts by July as planned, and aims to achieve an export target of 3.5 – 4.0 million tons this year.
The agriculture ministry also plans to set up a national rice reserve of 100,000 tons to help stabilize distribution and meet domestic demand.
Thanhnien
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