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The Agriculture and Rural Development will launch the project for 1 million hectares of high-quality, environmentally friendly rice to reduce greenhouse gas emission |
This is an act to gradually achieve the goal of zero greenhouse emission by 2050 thanks to synchronous measures to exploit advanced planting technologies for the development of high-quality rice types, ultimately modernizing the agricultural infrastructure in the nation.
The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry reported that rice growing activities in Vietnam accounts for nearly a half and over three quarters of the agricultural greenhouse and methane emission respectively. This harmful effect cannot be reduced due to a lack of large-scale specialized rice cultivation areas, unsustainable farming methods, and loose links between farmers and businesses.
The project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, specialized, environmentally friendly rice is extremely meaningful in transforming from traditional agricultural production to agricultural economy so as to increase produce quality, create more added value, and sustainably develop the national agriculture sector. The project will be submitted to the Government in April and will be implemented in the Mekong Delta next year if approved.
Accordingly, the rice seeds sown in this specialized area must be certified as to quality, nutrition value, industrial value. The cultivation process here adopts sustainable methods (minimizing the use of input like artificial fertilizers, pesticides and boosting the connection among stakeholders). These areas are mechanized and have consistent infrastructure that can be digitalized for traceability.
Until now, twelve out of thirteen provinces in the Mekong Delta have registered to participate in this important project, with an aim of having 719,000ha in 2025 and then over 1 million hectares in 2030. One-fifth of this surface area will be located in An Giang Province, the largest area of all.
Right now, the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry is asking all provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta to check the 184,000-hectare of rice in the Vietnam Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project (VnSAT). This area will be totally transferred into the new project above.
The project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, specialized, environmentally friendly rice aims at having 500,000ha of high-quality, specialized rice in the whole Mekong Delta in 2025, equal to 1 million hectares of rice crop a year and a yield of 6.2 million tonnes of rough rice (3.8 million tonnes of husked rice). The profit of rice growers will reach over 35 percent. 80 percent of straw is recycled and processed for further use.
By 2030, this area will have increased to 1 million hectares, equal to 2 million hectares of rice crop per year and a yield 12.4 million tonnes of rough rice (7.7 million tonnes of husked rice). The average profit of farmers will have been 40 percent while the greenhouse gas emission will have dropped by 20 percent.
