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Rice exports ‘can continue growing'
Rice farming and export have great potential to continue growing rapidly in the next few years though there are a number of challenges ahead, a conference heard in HCM City on November 03.
Vo Hung Dung, Chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Can Tho unit, told delegates at the World Rice Outlook 2011 conference that Viet Nam achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the world's second rice exporter after being an importer just three decades ago.
Since 1990, output and exports have risen 2.1 times and 4.6 times, he said.
However, a shortage of warehouses to store the grain is the big problem facing the sector, he said, forcing farmers to sell their paddy immediately after harvest, putting pressure on prices.
Farmers face the greatest disadvantage in the rice value chain which also involves traders, exporters, and processors, he said, and merely raising rice prices is not enough to help them. Instead, the Government should have comprehensive policies to ensure benefit for everyone in the chain.
Establishing more rice cluster and developing more rice-based products are also important tasks for the sector in the coming time, he said.
Since food security was a major issue, the country should enlarge the national reserve, restructure agriculture, expand scale, and adopt more modern technologies to increase rice output, he added.
Stability crucial
Peter Timmer, an expert at the US-based Center for Global Development, said: "Stability in food supplies and prices is crucial for credible and effective governance across all countries in meeting their fundamental responsibility to assure that their citizens have reasonable access to adequate affordable food for themselves and their families."
The food crisis of 2007-08 caught most of the countries in Asia unprepared for a sudden spike in food prices, especially that of rice.
A survey by this think tank said: "There will be a significant decline in global rice consumption in the next 10 years. The main drivers of this decline will be rapid income growth in Asia, accompanied by a massive shift of labour from rural to urban areas."
"The result will surprise many," he said.
With more open trade and the globalisation of tastes, a shift to more balanced diets in Asia - less rice and more wheat, animal products, fats and oils, and vegetables and fruits – would mean a decline in rice consumption, he explained.
Along with a reduction in consumption, rice output is also projected to decrease due to unfavourable weather and natural disasters, he said.
Viet Nam can get good prices for its rice in the next five to seven years, he said.
He urged the country to enlarged its rice reserve system though it would cost a lot of money to cope with supply shocks, and upgrade its agricultural infrastructure and increase the transparency in pricing to achieve stability in the rice market.
Xuan Huong
vietnamnews
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