Pooling land helps Mekong rice farmers

Pooling land helps Mekong rice farmers

The large-scale rice production model that has helped farmers earn higher revenues than the traditional model, has been adopted in most provinces in the Mekong Delta.

In Can Tho City, for instance, the area under the new model has risen from 400ha during the summer-autumn crop in 2011 to over 9,000ha this year. More than 5,100 households have joined hands to create 41 large-scale fields.

Pham Van Quynh, director of the Can Tho Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the new model has spread rapidly in the city because it has brought 15-20 per cent more benefit than the old models.

The benefits include the use of advanced technologies, higher yields, and, especially, farmers' easier access to inputs, and their ability to sell their products easily.

Doan Tri Vung, deputy director of the Dong Thap Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said farmers in his province embraced the new model.

As a result, ploughing, sowing, and fertilising had all been mechanised on lands that now measure 100-200ha.

Dong Thap has nearly 1,600 ha in the districts of Tam Nong, Thap Muoi, and Tan Hong under the large-scale rice production model.

During the last summer-autumn crop, these fields managed to save around 30kg of seeds and fertilisers per hectare, resulting in VND2.5-3 million more profits each.

More than 6,400 households in Long An Province pooled over 7,800ha this year.

The large fields in the districts of Moc Hoa , Duc Hue, Vinh Hung, and Tan Thanh saw higher yields of 6.5-7 tonnes of quality paddy per hectare which fetches VND150-200 more per kilogramme.

Le Minh Duc, director of the Long An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said farmers should join this advanced farming mode which has shown effectiveness through lower production costs and higher yields and quality.

But selling their output remains one of the problems the new model has been unable to fix for farmers, according to the An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Many farmers in An Giang and other Mekong provinces are reluctant to join the new production model because they have little confidence in the co-operation between farmers and buyers.

Vung from the Dong Thap agriculture department said many rice-purchase contracts signed between farmers and food companies were violated.

"When paddy prices go down buyers put pressure on farmers, and when rice prices are high, farmers force buyers to raise prices," he said.

"The authorities are responsible for naming enterprises that will sign paddy purchase contracts with farmers."

Entrepreneurs needed to co-operate with farmers if the new model was to become sustainable, he said.

"To reach sustainable rice production, consumption plans must be made along with farmers' production plans."

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