The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development met in Hanoi on Friday, to discuss a draft policy to regulate periodic stockpiling of rice from farmers in the Mekong Delta.
According to deputy minister Bui Ba Bong, the ministry is rushing to complete the draft policy to annually regulate stockpiling of rice in the Mekong Delta, as instructed by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.
The ministry targets to stockpile rice from the winter-spring and summer-autumn rice crops every year; reduce pressure on consumption during peak harvest time, and help increase rice prices for farmers.
According to the draft policy, the Government will stack about one million tons of winter-spring husked rice in February and March each year.
By July, August and September, the ministry will continue to stockpile another 1-1.5 million tons of summer-autumn rice crop.
Mr. Bong said that the ministry wants to periodically purchase rice for stockpiling and not wait until rice prices fall.
Several experts at the meeting proposed that the ministry buy unhusked rice and not husked rice because husked rice is mainly sold by traders not farmers.
Besides, the Government should also have specific regulations on the price of rice and purchasing methods to most benefit farmers.
Most households in the delta region sell their rice to traders before the Government begins stockpiling. As a result, although the rice prices increase, farmers cannot benefit from this.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will gather farmers’ opinions to perfect the draft policy before submitting to the Prime Minister.
