Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA) Soc Trang plans to raise the revenue of agricultural cultivation to over250 million VND (10,770 USD) per hectare in average by 2025 and increase the share ofspecialty and premium-quality rice to more than 80 percent of the total output.
To this end, the province is taking measures to improve theeffectiveness of rice branding and upgrade the value chain of specialty riceproducts, including the widely-known ST24 and ST25. It will also promote cleanand environmentally-friendly cultivation of rice to enhance the sustainabilityof the sector.
Soc Trang has zoned off farming areas of specialty ricevarieties for export, established production cooperatives, andaccelerated use of advanced technology into cultivation.
Last year, agribusinesses and traders cooperated withgrowers to distribute rice cultivated on a total area of over 61,900 hectares,up 68 percent from 2020. This will lay a foundation for sustainably heighteningrice values and promote a win-win partnership among the stakeholders, said Directorof the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Huynh NgocNha.
In Tra Vinh, farmers have received support from authoritiesto produce and distribute high-quality rice cultivated from more than 1,650 hectares andthose farmed under organic standards of the EU, USDA and JAS.
Loc Troi Group JSC has helped growers to expandpremium-quality rice areas from 300 hectares in the 2021 – 2022 Winter/Springto about 1,000 hectares in the 2022 Summer/Fall season.
According to Le Van Dong, Deputy Director of the provincialDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tra Vinh eyes to have 200,000hectares under rice by 2025, of which 2,000 – 3,500 hectares will be for organicfarming and 20,000 – 30,000 hectares for clean production.
The province has also encouraged farmers to apply goodagricultural practices, for example VietGAP, that enable the efficient use ofwater and fertilisers and less use of pesticides, and improve productivity andquality.
Local rice exporter Tan Long Group has put into operationthe largest rice processing factory in Asia, equipped to the modern EU standards,with a designed capacity of some 1,000 tonnes of rice per day.
The group has stretched its network of farming cooperativesto An Giang where they have been engaged into cultivation of 30,000 hectares ofrice. It expects to further expand the network in the future, with a focusplaced on high-quality varieties, such as Japonica, Jasmine, ST21, ST24, andST25.
Firms must pay more attention to branding as well-brandedproducts can fetch 10 – 20 percent higher than those not produced by abrand name, said Nguyen Ngoc Nam, President of the Vietnam Food Association./.
VNA
