The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang harvested 4.49 million tonnes of paddy rice this year, 203,000 tonnes more than the output of 2012 and surpassing the yearly plan by 2 percent.

According to statistics of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the winter-spring, spring-summer and summer crops yielded a total of 2.44 million tonnes of paddy rice. Harvest of the summer-autumn rice crop is underway, with average productivity estimated at 5.4 tonnes per ha, bringing output to about 1.59 million tonnes. At the same time, the short-term autumn-winter rice has also ripened, yielding an average 5.2 tonnes per ha, with output to achieve 480,000 tonnes.

Local farmers this year expanded the area under summer-autumn rice by nearly 4,650 ha, contributing to the increase in output. At the same time, agricultural scientists have been working hard to guide farmers in adopting intensive farming techniques, mechanization of farming work and advanced post-harvest technology.

However, as rice export faced many difficulties in the first months of this year, farmers still stockpiled a large quantity of rice.-VNA