Importing Cambodia's Rice: Quality Rice Cultivation Planning Put in Consideration

Staying near Xuan To Bridge (Tinh Bien precinct, An Giang) amid days of November, 2008, we can see with our own eyes lines of tricycles with Cambodian number plates loaded with large bags of rice. Along the sides of road, heaps of rice are plump and tall with a queue of trucks from many provinces nationwide. The scene of pricing and trading happens dynamically. Mr Nguyen Van Khoai, a local cadre, said: “For the past fortnight, the daily amount of rice imported from Cambodia is more than demand of increasing number of dealers”. The fleet of tricycles delivering rice keeps flocking through the border-gate combined check-point. Many groups empty out the rice on the vacant field near Huu Nghi iron bridge. On the Vinh Te Canal, boats anchor in close approximity to warehouses loading rice in great numbers. There are at least five foreign rice collecting points with quantity of tens of tonnes, each place has its own team of dockers. Po Tha, a Cambodian stevedore, told us that: There were 30 men is his team loading more than 300 tonnes of rice every day. As estimated by many people, the amount of rice imported through Tinh Bien border gate reached more than 1,500 tonnes a day. Giang Lam, Vice Director of Tinh Bien Border Customs, said: The imported rice was gathered by farmers in Cambodia to sell in Vietnam.

 

However, we found that sellers were mostly professional or unprofessional dealers. Owners of tricycles (each carries 7-8 tonnes of rice) admitted that they had to take with them personal papers of Cambodian people to regularise their carriage and avoid tax. Rice imported to An Giang is mainly Thai Khaodakmali long-grain variety and Cambodian small-grain variety. “We have to travel to Ta Keo, Pusat, Kongpong Speui…to buy rice”, said Si Tha, a Cambodian dealer. In practice, some Vietnamese farmers in border-line communes hired land in Cambodia to grow rice and bring their rice back to Vietnam on this occasion, but we find none of them trading here. Professional traders said the amount of rice made by Vietnamese farmers in Cambodia was small, unable to compare to the huge quantity of rice imported from Cambodia this year.

 

We observed that there was a crowd of merchants from Tien Giang, Long An, Dong Thap, Can Tho, etc., taking their trucks to purchase rice at Tinh Bien Border. Khaodakmali is sold at VND5.300 a kilo and the Cambodian small-grain rice at VND 5,000 per kilo. After it is unhusked, the rice will be distributed through wholesale channels to retailers in HCM City and other cities and towns. When we asked about purchase of high-yield rice varieties like IR50404, 3217, many dealers sadly said “It is hard to sell those varieties after unhusked. You can find them any where, no need to travel to remote border-line areas to buy, which is time-consuming and costly”, said Le Thi Tuyen, a merchant from Ben Luc. Tran Thanh Hao, an experienced food trader in Tinh Bien, shared the same viewpoint. He said that the Thai and Cambodian rice varieties were delicious and popular in Vietnam for a long time. Beside rice dealers in Hochiminh city and neighbouring provinces, many local rice-millers take time to go to Cambodia to buy rice, unhusk, and sell to wholesale markets. Together with paddy, Thai and Cambodian rice varieties are brought inside Vietnam in bulk via roads along South-west border line, for example: Chau Doc town, border gates of Khanh Binh, Vinh Xuong (An Giang); Thuong Phuoc, Dinh Ba (Dong Thap) and Xa Xia, Ha Tien (Kien Giang).

Rice imported from other countries to the exported rice basin of Mekong River Delta has become popular but this is the first time it is imported in huge amount this year. Cambodia owns large area of rice cultivation with low population pressure and small-scaled rice export. Meanwhile, our area of rice growing is narrowed every year, such as 40,000 hectares are transformed into golf fields and industrial parks this year, yet 1 million people are added in the current population imposing high pressure on the production of food in general and rice in particular. Cambodian rice imported to Vietnam is grown from traditional variety and of high quality. This variety is harvested every six months with low maximum productivity of two tonnes per hectare. However, its decisive advantage is flavour, aroma and softness suitable to the taste of middle-income earners upwards. Behind the rice import in the quiet domestic market is the real demand. To satisfy this demand, merchants are willing to travel hundreds of kilometres across the border to buy rice at VND5,000 – 5,300 a kilogram in Cambodia. It is easy to understand this motive. In addition, Cambodia’s export market remains narrow so Vietnam is an ideal destination for excessive amount of rice from Cambodia. Yet, over the past years, as instructed by the agricultural industry, farmers in the Mekong River Delta only concentrate on growing high-yield rice varieties of IR50404, 3217, and neglect other quality varieties like Oryza sativa (Nanh Chon, Tam Thom, Tam Xoan, and Nang Huong). The demand of export these varieties is limited. “As our farmers mainly cultivate low-quality varieties so the supply of quality rice for domestic market is extremely short”, added Nguyen Thi Kim Tuyet, a dealer who often goes to Tinh Bien to buy and sell rice to Ba Dac wholesale market (Tien Giang).

 

According to Prof.Dr Bui Chi Buu, Director of Southern Agricultural Technique and Science Institute, Cambodian and Thai specialty rice existing in the local market for a long time is a result of big demand of quality rice, particularly in the urban area. “Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia still make planning and maintain a large area of growing long-time specialty paddy that produce quality rice. Meanwhile, due to pressure of food security and export demand, we only focus on producing high-yield and short-time rice varieties. Recently, area of high-yield varieties in Mekong River Delta rises strongly so quality rice supplied for the domestic market becomes inadequate. This is also an opportunity for foreign high-class rice to pour in the national granary though domestic rice is hardly consumed”, said Mr Buu.

 

Many scientists like Prof. Dr Vo Tong Xuan, Dr Le Van Banh (Rice Institute of Mekong River Delta) agreed that local producers had neglected the high domestic demand for quality price. Therefore, the agriculture industry and enterprises should look into the structure of domestic and exporting markets and restructure the area of growing quality rice. Mr Huynh The Nang, Vice Chairman of An Giang People’s Committee, said: “While it is hard for domestic rice to sell, importing rice will leave a lesson of planning and developing high quality rice varieties and restructuring local and exporting markets for local agricultural branches”. Furthermore, it is undeniable that the demand for quality rice is reasonable. We cannot press people to use a certain rice variety. How to avoid the current frozen status in the domestic rice market is a big question for the national agriculture and trade in the coming crop.