Rice export is positive in the first months of 2023; however, boosting the export volume of rice into difficult markets such as the European Union (EU) requires a lot of effort from businesses and farmers.
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.
Although the growing area of rice this year decreased compared to last year, paddy prices in the Mekong Delta still plunged sharply, with some rice varieties falling by VND1,300 per kg because enterprises could not export after purchasing paddy.
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.
Currently, farmers in the Mekong Delta provinces have entered the peak harvest season of the summer-autumn rice crop. Statistics show that the whole region sowed more than 1.5 million hectares, down 9,000 hectares. Rice yield is estimated at 56.66 quintals per ha, an increase of 1.15 quintals per ha compared to the previous summer-autumn rice crop; total summer-autumn rice production in the Mekong Delta this year is estimated at more than 8.5 million tons, up 124,000 tons.
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.
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.
From the beginning of this year, the developments in the weather were quite complicated, causing disadvantages for agricultural production. Fortunately, thanks to proactive suitable coping measures, farmers in provinces in the Mekong Delta achieved goods results in the winter-spring rice crop and now are harvesting summer-autumn rice crop with the expectation of good harvest and high price.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Doi, Director of Binh Thanh Agricultural Services Cooperative in Lap Vo District in Dong Thap Province, the prices of paddy in the Mekong Delta tended to decline in the past few weeks.
Amid saltwater intrusion and drought, Mekong Delta provinces still managed to maintain paddy production at 10.7 million tons, merely down around 118,000 tons. This is an impressive effort of farmers and local authorities, hereby, helping to ensure food security.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on March 27 held an online meeting to summarize preliminarily the winter-spring rice crop, deploy the production plan for the summer-autumn, winter, and autumn-winter rice crops this year in Southern and Mekong Delta provinces.
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.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), provinces in the Mekong Delta have planned to grow summer-autumn rice crop on an area of 1.6 million hectares this year with expected yield of 9.05 million tons, up 258,000 tons over the same period last year.
