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Modernize or crop yield will stagnate, warn experts
Rice productivity in the Mekong Delta, known as the nation’s granary, will stay low for the next two decades if no effort is made to modernize cultivation techniques, some experts say.
Pham Van Du, deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Cultivation Department, said there are 3.8 million hectares of rice fields in the Mekong Delta but the average output has remained low at 5-6 tons per hectare for many years.
The region is now able to produce around 21 million tons of rice and other staples a year and the figure would stay the same until 2020 or even 2030, Du told a conference in Can Tho City last Wednesday.
According to the Vietnam Food Association, the delta produces about 60 percent of the national rice crop and accounts for 99 percent of rice exports. Vietnam, the world’s second-largest rice exporter, earned about US$3 billion from exporting 4.7 million tons of rice last year.
As the yield in the delta would not increase by 2020, annual rice exports would also remain unchanged at 4-5 million tons, Du said.
Other experts noted at the conference that agriculture was the nation’s greatest strength, with the Mekong Delta, locally known as the Cuu Long Delta, having the best cultivation conditions in Vietnam, including fertile land and sufficient irrigation.
However, the continuing use of traditional farming techniques has hindered the competitiveness of the country’s agricultural products, especially rice, they said.
Le Van Banh, director of Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute, said rice loss during hand-harvesting in the delta region was huge, but if farmers could afford to use combine harvesters, the loss will be reduced by 300,000 tons a year.
Banh said just 3,000 combine harvesters were being used in the Mekong Delta now, while the region needs 13,000-15,000 such machines.
Phan Hieu Hien, a professor at Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, said it would cost around $400 million to have modern harvest and post-harvest technology applied in the Mekong Delta.
The investment will start bringing in returns after two years, and more importantly, modernize agricultural production in Vietnam, he said.
Hien said the use of laser technology to level rice fields, for instance, will save 50 percent of water usage costs and 70 percent of labor costs as well as increase average yield by 0.5 tons per hectare.
Meanwhile, the use of dryers will help control the rice moisture and the broken ratio, he said, noting Vietnam loses $180 million worth of husked rice every year due to uncontrolled moisture content.
“The outlay can be high but these techniques are cost-effective and can be used for a long time,” Hien stressed.
The $8 billion stimulus package declared by the government has provided farmers with interest-free loans to buy consumer goods and agricultural tools and machinery for two years.
But Vo Hung Dung, director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Can Tho City branch, suggested the loan terms should be expanded to up to 10 years to give farmers more opportunities to purchase modern machinery.
Farmland loss
Francesco Goletti, a rural development expert, said a household in the Mekong Delta has one hectare of farmland on average and they can make VND32 million ($1,800) by growing two rice crops a year. With other income sources, each household can earn as much as VND50 million ($2,923) a year.
But the income will fall by 2010 as cultivated land is expected to shrink during the industrialization and urbanization process, Goletti said.
If no measures are taken to increase productivity, national food security could be threatened, he warned.
The Land Science Association said last week around 500,000 hectares of farmland had been taken for nonagricultural purposes between 2000 and 2007. This area is equal to 5 percent of the country’s farmland.
According to the Cultivation Department, Vietnam had about 4.1 million hectares of paddies in 2007 but the number will shrink to 4 million hectares in 2010 and 3.6 million hectares in 2030.
TN, TT
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