Nghe An Newspaper interviewed Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development about the current situation, existing causes as well as proposed solutions in the coming time, to be able to bring the rice production industry to a "new height".
PV: In your opinion, what potential does Nghe An have in developing and increasing the value of rice production?
Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh: Nghe An has the largest natural land area in the country, with more than 1.64 million hectares, of which the rice growing area is more than 107,000 hectares. The province has a very favorable geographical location, being the center of the North Central region, with a diverse transportation system with roads, waterways, railways, and airways connecting and integrating with the national economy and exchanging with countries in the region, very convenient for transporting and consuming rice.
In addition, the density of rivers and streams is relatively large, in the area there are 6 rivers flowing directly into the sea, the largest is the Ca River with a total basin area of 27,200 km2 ; 2,255 large, medium and small irrigation works supplying water for agricultural production and people's lives, including 1,061 reservoirs, 487 dams, 707 pumping stations.
PV : So far, what achievements and results have we achieved in rice production?
Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh: Every year, the whole province produces over 170,000 hectares of rice, with an output of over 1 million tons/year, making an important contribution to ensuring food security for the country and the province. Together with Thanh Hoa and Hanoi, we are currently one of the three provinces with the largest rice production area among the 31 provinces and cities in the North.
By applying scientific and technological advances, rice production has increasingly achieved encouraging results. In 2015, the province's rice area was 186,551 hectares, in 2022 it was 173,149 hectares, a decrease of 14,402 hectares. However, the output reached 995,571 tons, an increase of 16,709 tons compared to 2015, proving that rice productivity has increased significantly.
In particular, the rice variety structure continues to change strongly. Up to now, the production area of high-quality rice varieties such as TBR 225, Bac Thinh, Thien Uu 8, ADI 168, AC5, J02, VNR 20... with high value and easy to consume has reached over 85,000 hectares/year, increasing the income value per unit area, meeting the restructuring orientation of the agricultural sector.
After land consolidation and plot exchange, through support policies, programs, projects and self-investment activities of the people, the whole province has tens of thousands of agricultural machines of all kinds, production stages have been rapidly mechanized, such as land preparation reaching over 98.5%, transportation 99.2%, rice harvesting 97.5%..., contributing to increasing productivity, product quality, and shifting the rural labor structure. The rice production area under product consumption linkage in 2022 is over 3,800 hectares.
PV : With such great potential, however, in the past, rice production in Nghe An has mainly served the needs of people, and has rarely been consumed in supermarkets, large distribution systems, and especially for export. This situation has made rice production in Nghe An not bring high value. So, in your opinion, what are the current shortcomings of rice production in Nghe An?
Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh: Although we are increasingly aiming at producing quality rice, we must also frankly admit that Nghe An's rice products are consumed in high-value distribution channels such as supermarkets and large distribution systems, and in particular, there is almost no rice for export, and the value of rice production is not commensurate with the potential and expectations. Farmers produce with the purpose of self-sufficiency, providing food for their families and mainly for livestock.
Most of the province's rice area is still being produced using conventional production methods, the area produced according to safety standards such as VietGAP and organic is very small. Linking rice consumption for farmers still accounts for a small proportion of the total annual rice area; therefore, people often have difficulty in consuming products, mainly selling to traders.
Production still has many shortcomings, post-harvest preservation is still difficult, mainly by hand, sun-drying and using available tools at households; the rate of rice dried in drying systems is still very low, only a few cooperatives have built post-harvest rice drying systems. In addition, in the province there are only 4 rice processing factories of enterprises.
Reporter : What are the reasons why rice production in Nghe An has not really brought high value? Is it due to production policies, farmers' ideology or natural conditions, sir?
Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh: Regarding natural conditions, Nghe An is a province located in a "fire pan" and a "flood center", so climatic conditions greatly affect agricultural production in general and rice production in particular. The quality of rice production land in the province is uneven, the area of good and flat land is only concentrated in some plain districts such as Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Quynh Luu, Do Luong, ... Therefore, the construction of the seed structure and crop arrangement of the agricultural sector must be very fundamental for each week and each region to avoid and minimize unfavorable weather conditions.
Rice production areas are still fragmented and small. We have implemented land consolidation and plot exchange, however, the rice production area per household and individual is very small. For example: Building a large-scale field model with a scale of 50 hectares, there are more than 300 farming households participating. This leads to different production investments of individuals, resulting in uneven rice quality and many varieties in one field. Therefore, it is very difficult to produce a variety in large quantities for commercial production.
From the policy of gradually shifting from producing high-yield rice varieties to high-yield and high-quality rice varieties, the area of high-quality rice is increasing; however, people still mainly produce according to the old method, the area of rice applied to production according to SRI processes, safety standards such as VietGAP, organic is not significant, leading to the failure to improve the quality of rice.
However, to increase these areas, there are still many "barriers"; first of all, because the labor force in agriculture is increasingly shifting to other industries, rice production is mainly done by the elderly, the ability to absorb science and technology or apply safety standards is very difficult. At the same time, when producing in the direction of quality and safety, the productivity will be lower than when producing in the direction of high output, so it is also difficult for people to accept to produce according to safety standards. Therefore, our products are very few in the supermarket system and the price of rice is often not high.
PV : In the coming time, to increase the value of rice production, what solutions will Nghe An have?
Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh: Nghe An will continue to convert rice growing areas without proactive water supply to growing more efficient crops, fruit trees or animal feed crops, only producing rice in areas that meet the necessary conditions.
At the same time, taking advantage of support from the Central Government and mobilizing local resources, continue to invest in completing essential infrastructure to develop high-quality rice material areas, including irrigation systems, rural transportation, intra-field transportation and rural electricity systems.
Along with that, continue to have solutions to organize diverse and strong forms of association between farmers, businesses and other partners on the basis of innovating the operation methods of cooperative production organization forms, cooperative groups, etc. Build "large fields", "linked fields" towards high-quality rice, strengthen the association of actors in production according to the value chain.
Promote rice production according to SRI process, safety standards, high intensive farming: Increase the proportion of rice production area according to SRI process, safety standards such as VietGAP, organic, improve the quality and efficiency of rice production in the area. Improve the quality of rice varieties, strictly manage cooperatives producing and supplying high-quality rice varieties. Invest in mechanization, technology, reduce post-harvest losses, continue to improve more by applying advanced, modern, suitable technologies in the current and future rice production and supply value chain.
Strengthen the formation of a chain linking 4 houses of the industry. In the long term, farmers will participate in production according to "Large Fields", "Dai Dien" in the organic direction and farmers will be organized into production and consumption cooperatives. In particular, along with improving the quality of rice, promoting the building of rice brands to enhance competitiveness and develop the position of Nghe An rice in the market.
However, in order for the province's rice production industry to be truly professional and of high value as desired, with the support of the State, solutions from the agricultural sector and localities, first of all, farmers themselves must change their production mindset from conventional production to commodity production; shift from agricultural production mindset to agricultural economic mindset .
PV : Thank you!
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