Expanding organic rice area associated with sustainable value chain linkage

Organic rice production towards a green, sustainable and climate change-adaptive agriculture is the goal that the agricultural sector has been striving to implement to increase the value of agricultural production, especially the value of rice products. In addition to the initial results, there are still many difficulties, obstacles and limitations, so the expansion of organic rice areas in the province is still slow, not reaching the target set by the Resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020-2025.

Using drones to spray herbal products on organic rice fields at Hieu Bac Cooperative, Cam Hieu Commune, Cam Lo District - Photo: TT

By the end of 2023, the whole province will have 1,149 hectares of organic rice production, natural farming, organic, VietGap, and food safety, of which the organic production area, natural farming is 351.7 hectares, and the organic production area is 502.5 hectares. In the 2023-2024 winter-spring crop, the whole province will produce 865.65 hectares of organic rice, natural farming, organic, VietGap, and food safety.

Hai Lang is a locality that has implemented the planning of organic rice production areas early. Based on the coordination with Quang Tri Trading Corporation and related units, the district has conducted a survey and selected 1,499.9 hectares to plan for organic rice production in the period 2021-2030 at 44 cooperatives and 78 regions. To date, the district has 29.58 hectares of rice certified organic and 25.2 hectares certified VietGAP.

Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hai Lang District, Van Ngoc Tien Duc, said: “In addition to favorable conditions such as support policies of the province and the district, the implementation of organic rice production also faces difficulties such as the irrigation system not meeting the needs according to the organic production process, the elevation of the general dike system of the whole district does not ensure safety when there is heavy rain and floods. The intra-field traffic system does not meet the needs of mechanization in the organic rice production area, the production area still has many plots and plots, which greatly affects the application of mechanization and production management and operation”.

This is also one of the difficulties that through the survey process in localities in the province, the agricultural sector has re-evaluated the shortcomings and limitations in implementing organic rice production. The main reason is that there has not been a plan for concentrated organic rice production areas in accordance with the requirements of organic production and the potential advantages of the regions.

The organic rice production area is still fragmented and small, with many banks and plots that have not been consolidated or accumulated. The uneven height of the fields causes difficulties in irrigation, applying mechanization and science and technology to production, especially weed control measures in organic rice fields.

The infrastructure system is not guaranteed, irrigation canals are not concreted or degraded, many fields do not have internal roads to ensure the transportation of input materials and seeds and the consumption of output products.

Enterprises and cooperatives linking production and consumption of organic rice are still few, the interests are not harmonious between the parties, many organic production areas do not have stable output... leading to high costs of organic rice production but productivity, quality and consumption price are not commensurate. Organic rice production in the first crops has lower productivity than traditional production, while Resolution No. 162/2021/NQ-HDND of the province only supports 2 crops, so people have not seen clear economic efficiency.

In order to focus on synchronous and drastic solutions to encourage and create favorable conditions for farmers, cooperative groups, cooperatives, and enterprises to expand the area of ​​production and consumption of organic rice in the coming time, the Provincial People's Committee has issued the Project "Developing organic rice associated with linkage according to sustainable value chains in the period 2025-2030 in Quang Tri province".

The project aims to increase the organic rice growing area by at least 684 hectares in the whole province by 2025, and concretize 1.59 km of intra-field canals to serve organic rice production and natural farming.

In the period of 2026 - 2030, the organic rice growing area is expected to increase by at least 1,000 hectares to have 2,000 hectares of organic rice production by 2030. The project is applied to the reviewed and planned areas to organize organic rice production in the districts of Hai Lang, Trieu Phong, Gio Linh, Vinh Linh and Cam Lo.

The project has proposed many important solutions such as continuing to promote propaganda, raising awareness and capacity for people, cooperatives, and cooperative groups to change production methods, use organic, clean, and safe agricultural products. Planning and completing field infrastructure, arranging fields associated with building traffic systems, and internal irrigation systems to ensure service for organic rice production.

Focus on investing in the construction of internal irrigation works, solidifying internal irrigation canals to serve organic rice production areas, ensuring proactive and scientific irrigation and drainage requirements. Synchronously apply scientific and technical advances such as tray seedling method, transplanting machines, organic microbial fertilizers, decomposed manure, biological products... to improve the soil.

Managing pests and diseases using integrated IPM and IPHM methods, using biological and herbal pesticides appropriately and under strict control, increasing the application of drones in fertilizing, spraying preparations, biological pesticides... in organic rice production.

Actively seek to expand the market for agricultural products for farmers, build and develop a linkage model between 4 parties: state - farmers - scientists - enterprises to develop increasingly effective production. Encourage enterprises to build and develop rice brands in the province such as Quang Tri organic rice, Sepon organic rice, Trieu Phong naturally cultivated rice... to serve the domestic and world markets.

Strengthen trade promotion, product advertising, building the Quang Tri organic rice brand, building and perfecting the product consumption system, creating a favorable environment for production and business activities. Develop investment linkage forms between enterprises and farmers, in which enterprises support capital, science and technology, product consumption and people organize production, providing products for enterprises to consume.

At the same time, there are many more support policies for enterprises, cooperatives, cooperative groups, and people to participate in organic rice production associated with sustainable value chain linkages.

Thanh Truc

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/mo-rong-dien-tich-lua-huu-co-gan-voi-lien-ket-chuoi-gia-tri-ben-vung-190623.htm