Several dozen large-scale rice fields with areas of between 100 and2,000 hectares have been put to use in the Mekong Delta for the ongoingsummer-autumn rice crop.
This is the result of aprogramme launched in March by the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment to have rice grown on large-scale farms throughout theMekong Delta, which has 12 provinces and Can Tho City.
The programme follows the successful implementation of the delta'sfirst large-scale rice farm, covering an area of more than 1,000ha in AnGiang province, for the 2010-11 winter-spring rice crop.
For this year's summer-autumn rice crop, the programme targets thatall the Delta provinces as well as Can Tho City would set up at leastone large-scale farm on a pilot basis and increase the number later byhaving farmers join together under large production organisations.
Under the first production model, the Vinh Binh Rice Farm in ChauThanh district's Vinh Binh commune was organised by the An Giang PlantProtection Company.
It brought together 458 farminghouseholds whose fields were located near each other. They planted theirrice on the same day and tended to their fields with productiontechniques provided by company officials.
Thecompany supplied the rice seeds, fertilisers and other inputs in advanceto the farmers without any interest rate, and bought all harvestedpaddy.
In the last winter-spring rice crop, theproduction cost of one kilo of paddy in the Vinh Binh Farm was 30percent lower than that of individual, small-scale farms, the companyclaimed.
With a yield of 8-9 tonnes per hectare, participating farmers earned a profit of more than 150 percent, it said.
Doan Ngoc Pha, deputy director of the An Giang provincial Departmentof Agriculture and Rural Development, said: "For this summer-autumncrop, An Giang has more than 3,000 hectares of large-scale rice farms inThoai Son and Chau Thanh districts."
He said the AnGiang Plant Protection Company and the An Giang Export Import Companyinvested in rice seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, provided"clean-production techniques" and guaranteed outlets for participatingfarmers.
The Vinh Binh Rice Farm has expanded to 1,600ha for the summer-autumn crop, he noted.
Meanwhile, Dong Thap province has set up 10 large-scale rice farmscovering more than 1,500ha with the participation of nearly 1,200farmers who cultivate rice using the Vietnamese Good AgriculturalPractices (VietGap) standard.
Long An province has also organised similar farms in the districts of Moc Hoa, Duc Hue, Tam Hung, Vinh Hung and Tan Thanh.
Soc Trang, Kien Giang, Tien Giang and Tra Vinh have set up onelarge-scale farm each with areas of 900-1,000ha, while other provincesin the delta have managed one each with areas of 300-500ha.
In Can Tho city, the Dong Van Co-operative Team in Vinh Thanhdistrict's Thay Ky hamlet was selected to organise a large-scale ricefarm that now has an area of 400ha belonging to 208 farming households.
The Co-operative Team had 135 farming householdswith a total area of 295ha come together for the 2010-11 winter-springcrop.
Nguyen Van Thanh, head of the team, said whenthey were selected to form the city's first large-scale rice farm, otherfarmers who were not members of the cooperative team, but had theirrice fields nearby registered to participate in the project.
He said the co-operative team, established in 2008, was selectedbecause its members were familiar with co-operative production andproducing high quality rice by applying techniques taught by localofficials.
The Plant Cultivation Department under theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development has said it planned toexpand the area of large-scale farms in the southern region to20,000-40,000ha next year and to 50,000-80,000ha in 2013./.
This is the result of aprogramme launched in March by the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment to have rice grown on large-scale farms throughout theMekong Delta, which has 12 provinces and Can Tho City.
The programme follows the successful implementation of the delta'sfirst large-scale rice farm, covering an area of more than 1,000ha in AnGiang province, for the 2010-11 winter-spring rice crop.
For this year's summer-autumn rice crop, the programme targets thatall the Delta provinces as well as Can Tho City would set up at leastone large-scale farm on a pilot basis and increase the number later byhaving farmers join together under large production organisations.
Under the first production model, the Vinh Binh Rice Farm in ChauThanh district's Vinh Binh commune was organised by the An Giang PlantProtection Company.
It brought together 458 farminghouseholds whose fields were located near each other. They planted theirrice on the same day and tended to their fields with productiontechniques provided by company officials.
Thecompany supplied the rice seeds, fertilisers and other inputs in advanceto the farmers without any interest rate, and bought all harvestedpaddy.
In the last winter-spring rice crop, theproduction cost of one kilo of paddy in the Vinh Binh Farm was 30percent lower than that of individual, small-scale farms, the companyclaimed.
With a yield of 8-9 tonnes per hectare, participating farmers earned a profit of more than 150 percent, it said.
Doan Ngoc Pha, deputy director of the An Giang provincial Departmentof Agriculture and Rural Development, said: "For this summer-autumncrop, An Giang has more than 3,000 hectares of large-scale rice farms inThoai Son and Chau Thanh districts."
He said the AnGiang Plant Protection Company and the An Giang Export Import Companyinvested in rice seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, provided"clean-production techniques" and guaranteed outlets for participatingfarmers.
The Vinh Binh Rice Farm has expanded to 1,600ha for the summer-autumn crop, he noted.
Meanwhile, Dong Thap province has set up 10 large-scale rice farmscovering more than 1,500ha with the participation of nearly 1,200farmers who cultivate rice using the Vietnamese Good AgriculturalPractices (VietGap) standard.
Long An province has also organised similar farms in the districts of Moc Hoa, Duc Hue, Tam Hung, Vinh Hung and Tan Thanh.
Soc Trang, Kien Giang, Tien Giang and Tra Vinh have set up onelarge-scale farm each with areas of 900-1,000ha, while other provincesin the delta have managed one each with areas of 300-500ha.
In Can Tho city, the Dong Van Co-operative Team in Vinh Thanhdistrict's Thay Ky hamlet was selected to organise a large-scale ricefarm that now has an area of 400ha belonging to 208 farming households.
The Co-operative Team had 135 farming householdswith a total area of 295ha come together for the 2010-11 winter-springcrop.
Nguyen Van Thanh, head of the team, said whenthey were selected to form the city's first large-scale rice farm, otherfarmers who were not members of the cooperative team, but had theirrice fields nearby registered to participate in the project.
He said the co-operative team, established in 2008, was selectedbecause its members were familiar with co-operative production andproducing high quality rice by applying techniques taught by localofficials.
The Plant Cultivation Department under theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development has said it planned toexpand the area of large-scale farms in the southern region to20,000-40,000ha next year and to 50,000-80,000ha in 2013./.
