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Rice export management of VFA not ‘transparent’: Local authorities
Vuong Binh Thanh, Deputy Chairman of the An Giang provincial People’s Committee, said that it is necessary to set rice export targets for provinces so that the provinces can control their own rice exports.
What would you, as the leader of the province which has the highest rice output in Vietnam, say about the rice export management scheme being followed by VFA?
Rice exports must be controlled so as to ensure national food security. The Cuu Long River Delta is churning out 10 million tonnes of merchant paddies every year, which is equal to 5 million tonnes of rice for export.
VFA needs to manage rice exports in a way so farmers earn money from their rice.
I think that the rice export mechanism stipulated in Decree 12 still has problems that need to be addressed. I think that it is necessary to amend the decree, while setting targets of rice exports for provinces which have big outputs.
Every year, An Giang can put out some 1.55 million tonnes of rice, while it can register to export 500-700,000 tonnes.
I think that the rice export management of VFA is unreasonable. I know of enterprises which do not have rice-growing areas and do not meet the requirements on storage conditions but are still allowed to export rice.
Some people say that every province needs to take care of its own food security. What is your opinion about that?
I think the prime minister needs to make final decision about national food security, while it is not advisable to assign the food security reserves to localities.
Regarding rice export quotas, if VFA finds the prices in the world’s market good, it needs to allow enterprises to sign export contracts. It happened in the past that enterprises were not allowed to export rice when the world’s prices were good, and enterprises were urged to export rice when the prices decreased. This way of rice export management has been making farmers poorer.
Some rice exporters have complained that rice export management has been following the ‘ask-and-grant’ mechanism. What would you say about that?
It is really a good thing that we have got a common voice by setting a floor price for Vietnamese rice exports. If the floor price had not been set up, enterprises would have scrambled for clients by forcing export prices down, thus causing losses for farmers and themselves.
However, the allocation of quotas for rice exports remains unreasonable. A lot of enterprises which still cannot meet requirements still can export rice. The thing that VFA needs to do is to allocate quotas in a way that benefits provinces, enterprises and farmers.
I know some people think that there is an ‘ask-and-grant’ mechanism, but I have to say that we should not completely blame VFA.
VietNamNet, TBKTVN
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