Representatives of APEC economies has a fact-finding trip to the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Rice Research Institute and Trung An Hi-Tech Farming JSC in Can Tho city on August 24 (Photo: VNA)Can Tho(VNA) – Officials from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) member economies expressed their special interest in Vietnam’s rice production and exportduring their fact-finding trip to the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Rice ResearchInstitute (CLRRI) and Trung An Hi-Tech Farming JSC based in Can Tho city onAugust 24.
At the CLRRI locatedin Ninh Kieu district, the delegates were briefed on the operation of theinstitute, which is the premier national institution specialising in riceresearch.
The institute hasreleased more than 180 new varieties of rice with 77 varieties certifiednationally, CLRRI Director Tran Ngoc Thach said, adding that about 25 newsolutions have been developed and transferred to farmers.
It has collaboratedwith a number of organisations and universities worldwide such as theInternational Rice Research Institute, the UN Development Fund, the World Bankand the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, in terms of food security,poverty reduction and climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Thach said theinstitute aims to move towards a more efficient and climate-ready riceproduction system in the time to come.
Meanwhile, Trung AnHigh-Tech Farming JSC has 20,000 ha of paddy fields which produce 400,000tonnes of rice meeting GAP and organic standards annually.
The company’s majorrice export markets include the US, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,China, Iran, Iraq, Germany, Italy, France and Australia, to name but a few.
Gerald Herbert Smith,a US delegate, said that the increasing level of water and salinisation remainsbiggest challenges to rice production in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region,especially at low-lying areas, requiring researchers and scientists to look forways to ease their negative impacts.
He said post-harvestloss is also a challenge to agriculture in general and rice production inparticular, noting that the US and the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development have engaged in joint studies and scientificcollaboration in order to seek the best ways to reduce the losses.
The official hailedthe CLRRI’s plan to implement other production models like aquaculture apartfrom rice crops in the context of climate change.
According to theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Mekong Delta region has harvested 10,259 million tonnesof rice in the winter-springrice crop in 2016-2017, up 188,375 tonnes from the same period in 2015-2016.
The region cultivated more than 1.5 million ha of rice during the crop, down 22,630ha against the previous winter-spring crop, with an average productivity of 6.7 tonnesa hectare.
The ministry said in the rest of 2017, drasticmeasures will be taken to deal with unfavourable weather conditions and the impacts of climate change such asdrought and saline intrusion.
The region will plant over 1.6 million ha ofrice in the 2017 summer-autumn crop, hoping to reach an estimated output of9.45 million tonnes, up nearly 437,000 tonnes against the 2016 summer-autumncrop.
Rice varieties resistant to drought and saltwater such as OM 6976, OM 2517, OM 5629, among others, will be usedfor the crop.-VNA
VNA
