The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has held a conference to gather opinions on the development of large-scale rice fields and links between agricultural production and distribution.

At the event, organised on March 31 in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, representatives of many rice hub provinces like Kien Giang, An Giang, Long An, Dong Thap and Tien Giang proposed that large-scale paddy fields should be suitable to each region and locality, not limited to 300-500 hectares as previously defined.

It is necessary to consider areas that see high rice productivity and quality rice in each locality during the building of large-scale paddy fields, while focusing on increasing the signing of trade agreements between farmers and businesses to shape a competitive rice value chain, they said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said sales of rice harvested in large-scale paddy fields should be directly agreed by farmers and enterprises, and authorised agencies should help them with the formalities.

For the 2013-2014 winter-spring crop, as many as 65 out of 97 local businesses in Mekong Delta localities have joined the large-scale rice fields and connectivity model with a total area of more than 54,000 hectares and a total output of 356,000 tonnes.-VNA