Ca Mau Agriculture Promotes a Commodity-based Production

 

Ca Mau has prioritised the development of rice, sugarcanes and some long-term plants, such as mangrove and cajuput, as well as some fruit trees. Each year, the province receives new varieties of high quality rice from the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute and the University of Can Tho. The local agriculture service has considered its top priority to put into production new high-yield rice varieties, resistant to diseases and capable of meeting requirements for export. In particular, the service has successfully used rice variety OM 1490, resistant to salty water, for rice-shrimp farming areas. At the same time, the service has effectively implemented programmes on producing new sugarcane varieties. The local agricultural service has improved the quality of fruit trees, putting Hoa Loc mango and Nam Roi grapefruit into production.

 

Ca Mau has paid attention to developing irrigation systems, in particular the planning of the systems serving for the province’s production restructuring. The province has built and put into operation hundreds of major works meeting the demand for water of the farming of rice and shrimps. Also, over 1,000 other works have been built completely to help improve the province’s agricultural production.

 

Over the past years, Ca Mau has witnessed a change for the better in its agriculture and rural development. The service’s structure has changed with specialised farming areas of shrimps and rice, fish and rice, and shrimps and forest in the south of the province and specialised rice farming areas in the north of the province. The change of land use purposes in combination with polyculture has become one of the most effective models in economic restructuring, opening up a prospect for comprehensive and sustainable agricultural production.

 

The appearance of various models of household and farm economies, especially the VAC (garden, pond and stable) model has boosted the development of agriculture and rural areas in Ca Mau province. Ngo Chi Dung, director of the Ca Mau Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the formation of VACBR models has proven a high effectiveness of the farming of animals and crops, suitable with natural, social and economic conditions of each region, and each locality. The models have helped effectively use land, labour and capital to produce a high economic value for local farmers.

 

Forestry has witnessed an encouraging development. With more than 170,000 hectares of land for forestry production, over the past few years, Ca Mau province has effectively developed and protected its forests. The province has established the Mui Ca Mau National Park and is waiting for the Government’s permission to establish the Lower U Minh National Park. So far, forest-shrimp, forest-fish, and forest-fruit tree-bee-vegetable farming models have been formed and gained initially a high economic effectiveness.

 

The main target of the Ca Mau agriculture service in the coming years is to promote a comprehensive and sustainable development, improving the effectiveness of the use of land, water and forestry resources with scientific and technological application for increasing productivity and quality of products and lowering production costs. The service will strive to increase the contribution of forestry, and animal husbandry, promoting the development of infrastructure facilities, particularly irrigation systems, breeding and processing establishments to improve sustainability of production activities, creating favourable conditions for socio-economic development in rural areas.