Mekong Delta rice cultivation lacks planning

Mekong Delta has yet to develop a planned strategy for rice cultivation, and combined with outdated dyke management techniques, farmers continue to suffer huge losses caused by recurring seasonal floods.

This opinion was expressed by delegates at a seminar on rice production in the delta hosted by the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute on Wednesday.

Flooding has so far completely devastated 7,500 hectares of autumn winter rice crop and threatened thousands of hectares of standing crop.

According to Nguyen Huu An, head of An Giang Plant Protection Department, this year rice prices are very high at about VND7,000-7,500 a kilogram. This has resulted in an increase of the production area by 17,000 hectares over last year.

Kien Giang Province has increased their rice growing area by 38,000 hectares since the same period last year. The total area is now 53,000 hectares while the province had just planned to grow on 36,000 hectares this season.

Tran Quang Cui, deputy head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that higher prices have prompted farmers to expand their rice production areas even in highly flood vulnerable areas of the Long Xuyen Quadrangular, where farmers have planted 11,000 hectares more than planned.

Meanwhile, the dyke system in the Mekong Delta has become too weak and outdated, he said.

The cultivated area in Hau Giang Province is 52,000 hectares while the province had planned to grow on only 42,000 hectares. The area has also increased by 40,000 hectares over last year in Dong Thap Province .

Several communes of Vinh Thanh, Co Do, O Mon Districts where usually no autumn winter rice was sown, saw farmers seed around 54,000 hectares.

According to the Rice Research Institute, the Mekong Delta has cultivated over 630,000 hectares of autumn winter rice crop, a record high in the region. However, several areas are out of the protected dyke zone.

An Giang has 131,000 hectares of rice crop but less than 50 percent of this area is within the protected dyke zone. Most of the rice damaged in Dong Thap Province is in areas which lie outside the protected dyke system.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in An Giang said that the province has spent VND2 million a hectare and local people have also donated VND1.8 million to reinforce the dyke. However, this is too small a sum compared to the total expenditure needed.

Nguyen Thi Kieu, deputy director of the agriculture department in Can Tho City said that to develop cultivation of autumn winter rice crop for the years ahead, the central Government should invest much more in fortifying the dyke system and develop a strategy for rice production for the entire region.