The prices of agricultural materials have increased sharply, especially fertilizer, making rice production more difficult for farmers and reducing profits. Therefore, converting to organic, environmentally friendly rice farming is not only a way to reduce production costs but also a sustainable path for the Mekong Delta.
Farmers in the Ca Mau peninsula are delighted as they enjoy a bumper rice crop on shrimp farming land. Thanks to that, many people are going to welcome the 2022 Lunar New Year more decently. The rice-shrimp model is now considered natural agriculture, adapting to climate change.
According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), Vietnam's 5-percent broken rice is currently sold at US$433-US$437 per ton, up $40 per ton compared to mid-August this year.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hau Giang Province, on August 30, said that 14 owners of combine harvesters in the province had registered to harvest rice in Soc Trang Province after the province received a proposal from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Soc Trang Province asking for the support of combine harvesters.
Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien has just signed an official dispatch proposing the Prime Minister to direct the opening of the green channel to ease congestion and difficulties for the rice market in the Mekong Delta with two options.
Hopeless and disappointed is the current feeling of thousands of Mekong Delta farmers when summer-autumn rice is being massively harvested because many households are waiting for traders, but they still have not come to buy paddy yet.
In this summer-autumn rice crop, Mekong Delta farmers sowed more than 1.5 million hectares of rice and currently have harvested over 60% of the total area. However, many farmers are extremely anxious because summer-autumn rice has already entered harvest season and is waiting to sell, but traders have not come to buy yet. In An Giang Province, some farmers agreed to reduce rice prices, but traders still dumped their deposits.
Entering April, farmers in Mekong Delta provinces are harvesting the last winter-spring rice fields of the total area of 1.5 million hectares, with an output of about 10.7 million tons. The prices of rice have declined in the past few days but remained at high levels as farmers focused on producing rice varieties to supply the high-end segment. This is considered an important change for Mekong Delta rice farmers.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), on March 25 in Tien Giang Province, held a conference to summarize the year 2020, implement the plan for 2021, and discuss solutions to speed up the progress of the Vietnam Sustainable Agricultural Transformation project (VnSat).
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) stated that although the rice-growing areas reduced, increasing rice yields, stable export of rice, and high selling prices have been beneficial for farmers at a conference to preliminarily summarize the production of the winter-spring rice crop 2020-2021, and deploy production of the summer-autumn, autumn-winter, and the winter rice crops in the South, held on the morning of March 24 in Can Tho.
In recent days, the export prices of Vietnamese rice have continued to top rice exporting countries, surpassing those of Thailand, India, and Pakistan. Typically, on January 22, the export price was at US$523 per ton for five-percent broken rice, $498 per ton for 25-percent broken rice, and $438 per ton for 100-percent broken rice. Last year, the export prices of Vietnamese rice also took the highest position many times.
Although there is about one month left before farmers in the Mekong Delta start to harvest the winter-spring rice crop, many traders have come to the fields to deposit to buy fresh paddy at an average price of VND6,200-VND6,800 per kilogram, depending on rice variety, in recent days.
In recent days, farmers in the Mekong Delta have been flexibly sowing the winter-spring rice crop early to avoid drought and saltwater intrusion at the end of the rice crop. Not only using high-quality rice varieties, but the percentage of farmers using certified rice varieties has also increased rapidly. These are important turning points in improving the quality of rice to enhance the value of Vietnamese rice in the international market.
At the end of the year, the weather in the South has started getting cold. This is also the time when the water in the fields downstream began to recede. Many farmers along the National Highway 61C, which connects Hau Giang and Can Tho provinces, are rushing to plow the soil to sow the winter-spring rice crop.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ca Mau Province, there are about 14,000 hectares of summer-autumn rice in the area waiting for the harvest. Of these, the largest areas of summer-autumn rice are in Tran Van Thoi District with 13,260 hectares.
During these days, farmers in some provinces in the Mekong Delta have started to harvest early winter-autumn rice with the joy of a bumper crop and high prices.
Entering August, the export prices of rice in Thailand and India both increased. However, Vietnam is the country seeing bright colors in rice exports. According to rice experts, with increasing rice export volume and value, Vietnam will pass Thailand to become the world’s largest rice exporter this year. The current matter is to build and solidify the Vietnamese rice brand in the market.
By actively applying measures to fight against saltwater intrusion and drought, farmers in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang have enjoyed a good harvest of winter-spring rice with the productivity reaching 7.4-7.6 hectares, around 0.1-0.3 tons per hectare higher than the previous year.
On the last days of February, farmers in the Mekong Delta have entered the peak harvest season of the winter-summer rice crop. Despite the impacts of saltwater intrusion and drought on coastal areas, most farmers have enjoyed a bumper crop and the price of paddy has also increased compared to at the beginning of the crop.
