Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Xuan Cuong works in Long An

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong (right) and the leaders of Long An province saw the display of rice samples at Tan Dong Tien Joint Stock Company

Provincial Secretary cum Chairman of Provincial People's Council - Pham Van Ranh, Chairman of Provincial People's Committee - Tran Van Can and leaders of some related departments and agencies received and worked with the delegation.

According to information from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Long An has about 1,420,000 tons of rice for the Winter-Spring crop of 2018 – 2019 and will finish harvesting at the end of March 2019. In the whole province, there are 16 enterprises signing a cooperation contract with 103 turns of fields, seeding area of over 9,229 hectares, and 2,952 households participating. However, the situation of consuming Winter-Spring rice is facing many difficulties. Some enterprises did not buy all the rice under the contract.

MARD - Nguyen Xuan Cuong highly appreciated the initiative of linking between farmers and enterprises in rice consumption over the past time. Before the situation of rice price is declining, the Minister proposed the leaders of Long An province to urge export enterprises to buy farmers' rice in the contracted areas. In the coming time, Long An needs to expand the contracted areas between farmers and enterprises so that farmers can be active in production and have stable output.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong (3rd, right) highly appreciated the active link between farmers and enterprises in rice consumption over the past time.
Tan Dong Tien Joint Stock Company  specializes in trading and exporting rice. Chairman of the Executive Board cum Director of the Company - Nguyen Thanh Muoi said that the rice export quatity reached 150,000 tons in 2018,  with the average price of 500 USD/ton, its turnover reached USD 75 million. Under the project of linking and consuming farmers' rice for 5 years in the period of 2015-2020 of Long An province, the company is connecting with farmers about 3,000 hectares, mainly focusing on high-quality sticky rice and fragrant rice.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Muoi proposed the State Bank to have policies to support the increase of the lending limit for enterprises consuming farmers’ products, especially export ones. Simultaneously, the export enterprises should be prioritized with preferential interest rates. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Muoi also proposed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to promote exports to strong-consuming markets such as Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Africa, etc.

At the meeting, Long An proposed the Government to negotiate export and import tax into the Chinese market soon; have a solution to support interest rates for enterprises to buy and store rice temporarily, consider not to increase lending interest rates when enterprises face difficulties in exporting.

Through the suggestions, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong informed that the relevant ministries will conduct trade promotion in many countries, especially Philippines, Malaysia, etc. in March 2019. Particularly about the process of linking production between Tan Dong Tien Joint Stock Company and farmers, the Minister praised and suggested the company to expand the contracted area. It is legitimate that Long An proposes to increase the lending limit and preferential interest rates for enterprises, this issue will be discussed by MARD and other Ministries on the mechanism and soon have conclusions.

By Mai Huong – Translated by Duc Tam

Source: http://baolongan.vn/bo-truong-bo-nong-nghiep-va-phat-trien-nong-thon-nguyen-xuan-cuong-lam-viec-tai-long-an-a71244.html