Positive signals from '1 million hectares of high quality rice' project

Promoting good foundations from the project

The project aims to form a large-scale, long-term stable concentrated raw material area, creating favorable conditions to reorganize rice production in the Mekong Delta in a modern direction, meeting multiple goals. As the province with the fourth largest rice area in the Mekong Delta, Long An implements a specialized rice growing area in Dong Thap Muoi.

Participating in the project, the province registered to have 60,000 hectares of high quality rice by 2025 and 120,000 hectares by 2030.

Most of the Winter-Spring 2023-2024 rice areas participating in the project have been harvested and achieved high yields.

The province deployed and implemented the project in 7 districts: Tan Hung, Vinh Hung, Moc Hoa, Tan Thanh, Thanh Hoa, Duc Hue, Thu Thua and Kien Tuong town in 2 phases.

Phase 1 from 2024-2025, the province focuses on consolidating the existing areas of the sustainable agricultural transformation project in Vietnam (VnSAT) in the province with an area of 60,000 hectares.

Phase 2 from 2026-2030, the province focuses on specifically identifying key areas to establish investment projects to develop low-emission high quality rice cultivation areas outside the VnSAT project area and expand by 60,000 hectares.

This phase will focus on activities such as investing in completing infrastructure for new areas, reorganizing production, building value chains; maintaining sustainable production in project's regions in the period 2024-2025.

The Winter-Spring crop of 2023-2024 is the first crop in the province to implement the project with a total area of more than 23,000 hectares. Among them, 2 cooperatives were chosen to implement the project: Go Gon Agricultural Cooperative (Tan Hung district) and Cay Trom Agricultural Trading Service Cooperative (Vinh Hung district). To date, most of the area has been harvested and achieved positive results.

In recent years, Go Gon Agricultural Cooperative has been the local key unit in building large fields, linking 4 parties (the State, businesses, scientists, farmers) to combine the implementation of programs using high technology in production to improve production scale of households.

Farmers using machine to roll straw after harvesting rice

Director of Go Gon Agricultural Cooperative - Nguyen Huu Tri said: "In recent years, thanks to persistently following sustainable farming processes, the amount of seeds sown has decreased to less than 100kg/hectare, and the number of water pumping times has also decreased to 5 times each crop, instead of 7 or 8 times.

In particular, the cooperative no longer burns the fields after harvesting but uses machines to roll or bury straw, etc. Implementing the project in the recent Winter-Spring crop, the cooperative reduced the amount of seeds sown to 80kg/ha, applying new process, bringing mechanization into production, etc, thereby achieving some very positive results, especially reducing production costs and increasing profits."

Mr. Nguyen Van Hai - member of Go Gon Agricultural Cooperative, shared: "In the last Winter-Spring crop, following the cooperative's production plan, I could reduce the amount of sowing seeds, chemical fertilizers and irrigation water for 2 hectares of rice.

At the end of the season, my family's rice yield was nearly 8 tons/hectare, with profits about 30% higher than the same period last year. In the upcoming Summer-Autumn crop, my family will continue to produce according to the cooperative's plan."

Apply mechanization to production

The entire Tan Hung district annually sow about 82,457 hectares of rice. Of which, the project implementation area in 2024 is 6,660 hectares, concentrated in communes: Hung Dien, Hung Dien B, Hung Ha, Hung Thanh, Thanh Hung, Vinh Chau A, etc.

Vice Chairman of Tan Hung District People's Committee - Le Thanh Yen informed: "Since the beginning of the 2023-2024 Winter-Spring crop, the district People's Committee has directed the district's Agriculture sector to increase technical training for farmers, focusing on measures to prevent and eliminate weeds; apply balanced fertilizer and new models; etc.

At the same time, the sector also promotes propaganda and mobilizes farmers to sow according to the province's recommended seed structure, prioritize the use of certified seeds, and reduce the amount of seeds sown to 80-100kg/hectare to reduce production costs. ”.

According to Director of Cay Trom Agricultural Trade Service Cooperative (Vinh Hung district) - Bui Van Tuan, the project is an opportunity for the cooperative to improve the quality of the entire 500 hectares of rice cultivation area from organic production to European standards.

The cooperative is coordinating with local authorities to register a collective trademark for rice products and develop more deeply processed rice products to increase the value of the cooperative's rice.

“With many years of experience applying the alternating wet and dry irrigation method, the cooperative has many advantages when deploying and implementing the project, especially when members of the cooperative are familiar with using smartphones with Internet to remotely control the pumping station system to supply enough fresh water to the field at the right time and automatically.

In the Winter-Spring crop of 2023-2024, the cooperative's average rice yield reached nearly 8 tons/hectares, selling at prices from 8,200-9,200 VND/kg, helping cooperative members have a profit of about 40 million VND/hectares (15-20 million VND higher than the same period last year)" - Mr. Bui Van Tuan said.

Continuing to deploy and implement

In 2024, Tan Thanh district will deploy and implement the project with an area of 5,700 hectares in all communes of the district. Of which, the Winter-Spring crop of 2023-2024 is 3,675 hectares and the Summer-Autumn crop of 2024 is 2,025 hectares.

Currently, the entire district has completely harvested the Winter-Spring 2023-2024 rice crop and sown more than 28,000 hectares of Summer-Autumn 2024 rice crop.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tan Thanh district, in the Winter-Spring crop of 2023-2024 and the Summer-Autumn crop of 2024, the district focuses on propagating, training, and advising farmers to reduce the amount of seeds sown to 80-100kg/hectares; reduce irrigation water by 20% compared to traditional farming; reduce the amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides of chemical origin by 20%, etc to form a specialized rice growing area that meets the set criterias.

Farmers apply tray transplanting machines to rice production

Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Thanh Truyen informed that the province's agriculture sector has set a goal that by 2030, the province's high-quality and low-emission rice areas will reach 120,000 hectares. In these areas, farmers will reduce the amount of seeds sown to less than 70kg/hectare, reduce the amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides of chemical origin by 30%, and reduce the amount of irrigation water by 20% compared to traditional methods. 100% of the area applies at least one sustainable farming methods certified good agricultural practice standards and granted area codes plant.

To effectively implement the Project, the Provincial Agriculture sector has asked districts and towns to review, consolidate and perfect the area of 60,000 hectares under the VnSAT project for implementation in the Winter-Spring crop of 2023-2024 and the following seasons. .

Along with that, based on the criteria for registering to participate in the project, districts and towns proactively coordinate with the provincial Agriculture sector to review areas that meet the criteria for expansion in the period 2026-2030, towards the goal of 120,000 hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice in the province by 2030.

“In the coming time, the province's Agriculture sector will focus on reviewing and implementing programs such as improving capacity of cooperatives and businesses participating in the project; The credit supporting program linking the production, processing and consumption of high-quality and low-emission rice products associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta in the province; modernizing production infrastructure for 1 million hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta in the province; Results-based carbon payment pilot program for 1 million hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta; etc to support cooperatives and farmers in successfully implementing the project." - Mr. Nguyen Thanh Truyen further informed.

In addition to supportive policies from functional sectors, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, domestic and foreign experts, etc, the role of cooperatives and farmers is very important and considered a prerequisite for successful implementation of the project./.

By Bui Tung - Translated by Q. Thien

Source: https://baolongan.vn/nhung-tin-hieu-tich-cuc-tu-de-an-1-trieu-hecta-lua-chat-luong-cao-a173714.html