Changes to institutions urged to improve rice value chain hinh anh 1Illustrative image (Source: VNA)
 
Hanoi (VNA) – Changes to management institutions are needed to improve the rice value chain and Vietnamese rice’s competitiveness, experts said at a workshop in Hanoi on March 17.  

Speaking at the conference, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) Nguyen Dinh Cung said the biggest challenge at the moment is to shift to quality management and promote cooperation and linkage in the chain.

He stressed that the role of farmers’ organizations and professional organizations in the rice value chain is very important.

Presenting research results on the existing rice value chain institutions, Dang Quang Vinh, researcher at the CIEM, said the rice cultivation area increased quickly from 2007 and the output rose by nearly 10 million tonnes in the 2005-2015 period.

Rice yield per hectare rose to 5.76 tonnes, the highest in Southeast Asia and rice export grew 14 percent annually on average in volume and 10 percent in value in the 1989-2012 period.

Nevertheless, production scale was relatively small with each household having an average 0.44 hectare of land, and rice quality was low and inconsistent.

According to experts, the rice sector will face a lot of difficulty in the upcoming years due to small scale production which makes it hard to apply scientific and technological advances, climate change, and bad farming practices such as the excessive use of chemicals.

The research recommended that in order to improve the value of rice production, it is necessary to clarify the right of property ownership, which will serve as the foundation for other activities such as investment, the development of an agricultural land market, and land accumulation for large-scale production.

Besides that, emphasis should be placed on quality, productivity and farmers’ income instead of quantity and supply.

A more comprehensive approach to food security is also needed, which pays more attention to nutrition than to rice quantity, according to the research.-VNA
VNA