Red Flag Farm Overcomes Difficulties

The Can Tho-based Red Flag Farm, with an area of 6,000 hectares for rice growing in Vinh Thháºnh district, is a leading rice processor and exporter in the Mekong delta with an annual output of 65,000 tonnes of high quality rice.

Until 1987, the farm cultivated only rice with annual output of around 1.3 tonnes per hectare, mainly in the extensive farming form. Its revenues increased from VND 208.9 billion in 2002 to VND 309.9 billion in 2004. Its budget contribution rose from VND 1.8 billion in 2002 to VND 5.2 billion in 2004. Average income of the farm’s staff members increased from VND 975,000 in 2002 to VND 1.8 million per person per month in 2004. In particular, the farm earned US$3.3 million from direct export in 2004.

Over the past years, the farm has invested in building the provincial road 922 with a total length of 16 kilometres and an 80 kilometre road network to meet the communication demand of local people. The farm now supplies electricity to a rice processing plant and 85 per cent of local households. The farm has five schools, a medical centre and five water supply plants. Furthermore, the farm has provided support for poor households and social policy beneficiary families.

To improve the effectiveness of land use, forming a large-sized concentrated material supply, processing and consumption chain, creating jobs and incomes for local people in the coming years, the farm will concentrate on producing high quality crops and animals, raising sind cows, shrimps and fish. The farm develops technology and transfers it to local farmers. Furthermore, the farm will upgrade its rice processing establishments, applying post-harvest technology and investing in building new processing establishments.

At the same time, the farm will expand its services, helping local farmers by providing them saplings and breeding animals, animal feed, materials for agricultural production, loans, and technical support. To that end, the farm is focusing on reviewing its land fund and training technicians and workers. Also, the farm has co-operated with the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute and the Unversity of Can Tho, and other research centres to protect high quality genes, developing distribution channels. The Red Flag Farm’s targets in 2005 are to expand its direct export markets with an export volume of between 25,000 and 30,000 tonnes, and trusts other enterprises to export between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes. At the same time, the farm will expand the domestic market for its fragrant rice products.