Difficulties and Challenges in Rice Cultivation in Vietnam

Vietnam currently has around 4.3 million hectares under paddy rice cultivation, accounting for 80 per cent of the country's total agricultural land. Vietnam tried to be a self-sufficient food supplier in the 1970s and early 1980s, and with suitable agricultural policies, Vietnam has become the major rice exporter in the world market since 1989 and has been ranked second after Thailand in recent years.

The significant changes in rice cultivation in Vietnam during the past years were attributed to progressive results in better irrigation, rice seedling improvement and policies. Doctor Bui Chi Buu from the Mekong Delta Rice Institute said that the country has successfully carried the transfers of advanced science and technologies and techniques to farmers to have better productivity in massive rice cultivation. These advanced appliances in agricultural production include the development of rice seeds, which are suitable in different ecological land types (alkaline, salty, dry and flood areas) and recent development of crossbred rice in the Red River and several central coastal regions.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has recently recognized 143 rice varieties created in 1997-2002 period. The ministry also developed the Integrated Programs of Insects Management (IPM), basing on the development of diversified biology to balance the biological conditions of parasites, hosts and the environment.

Around 60 per cent of total peasant farmers nationwide accepted the IPM methods in the early 1990s and the index now is 20-40 per cent. Irrigation also contributed a positive role in Vietnam’s agricultural production. The country poured between VND1, 538 billion (US$99 million) and VND2, 650 billion (US$164 million) investment capital into irrigation works each year in 1990s. The heavy investment has helped increase the irrigated rice areas in the Red River region to 90 per cent of the total while the figure reached 70 per cent in Mekong Delta region and the paddy rice output increased to 34.5 million tonnes in 2003, double the 1985 index of 15.9 million tonnes.

However, the development of rice cultivation in Vietnam still faces more challenges and difficulties in the future due to less competitiveness and unsustainable production. Vietnamese rice farmers in general and in the Mekong Delta region in particular are poor , earning an annual income of only around US$1,000-1,100 per ha per person or about US$700 per household on average.

In addition, the other crops account for less than 10 per cent of total agricultural production, leaving rice cultivation as practically the sole one in Vietnam. The government is encouraging farmers to switch to other crops to suit different biological areas and to diversify production and increase farmers’ incomes.

According to economic surveys and research conducted by experts, Vietnamese rice was 8.4 per cent less competitive than Thai rice in 2001. Vietnam is trying to compete with Thai rice in the world market but the result has not seen much improvement.

Several kinds of new insect have also appeared due to poor intensive cultivation. Paddy rice production in Vietnam also suffers from other disadvantages such as the large volume of alkaline land (more than 2 million hectares), annually increasing salty land (around 1.5 million hectares), regular droughts and floods. Poor post-harvest technologies also cause losses of around 10-15 per cent of the total food output.

Vietnam's population is growing fast and the fact is that the living condition of farmers nationwide is still low. Vietnam is trying to build an effective intensive farming method to ensure sustainable agricultural production. International scientists and experts stressed that the application of advanced technologies will help farmers raise productivity.

The cooperation and research on biological technologies on rice cultivation will focus on genetic studies to raise the levels of vitamin A and iron, and develop anti-pest and disease seeds and biological safety, DNA combination techniques, MAS standardized rice selection method and gene sources. Vietnam also gives priority to the application of biological technologies to agricultural production, especially rice cultivation. 

Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) pointing out the difficulties and challenges in rice production now and in the future recognised that it’s of the utmost importance that there is equality in social incomes between rice growers and other labourers in society. Secondly, people must learn to effectively use the natural resources and protect the environment to increase the productivity while retaining sustainable agricultural and rice cultivation development.

• Cong Ly