Northern provinces cultivated 1,091.2 thousand ha, equaling 97.9%; Southern provinces cultivated 1,972.0 thousand ha, equaling 100.2%, of which the Mekong Delta cultivated 1,573.7 thousand ha, a decrease of 0.4% from the same period last year. So far, the Mekong Delta had 681.6 thousand ha of winter-spring rice for harvest, accounting for 43.3% of the sown area and equaling only 72.9% of the same period in 2017; estimated yield reached nearly 10.3 million tons, an increase of 388.8 thousand tons compared with the last winter-spring crop; the productivity was estimated to gain 6530 kilograms per ha, a rise of 270 kilograms per ha.

As of above time, provinces in the Mekong Delta basically completed the harvest of winter crop 2017-2018. According to preliminary report of localities, cultivated area of the whole region reached 197.3 thousand hectares, an increase of 9.3 thousand hectares compared with the last winter crop; estimated productivity 4610 kilograms per ha, a rise of 740 kilograms per ha; the yield achieved 909.6 thousand tons, up 182.8 thousand tons.

As of mid-March, localities over the country cultivated 321.1 thousand ha of maize, equaling 94.1% of the same period last year; 66.8 thousand ha of sweet potato, equaling 101.4%; 108.8 thousand ha of peanut, equaling 102.5%; 13.3 thousand ha of soybean, equaling 53.4%; 526.1 thousand hectares of vegetables, equaling 99%.

Cattle breeding in the first Quarter of 2018 had difficuties due to the influence of extreme and damaging cold weather lasting from January to the early of February. The country’s flock of buffaloes in March was estimated to reduce by 0.5% compared with the same period last year; flock of oxen increased by 2.8%; flock of pigs fell by about 6.2% due to the decline in price of pork living-weight after Lunar New Year, farmers had no interest, so the scale of the herd decreased sharply; flock of poultry climbed by 6.6%. Output of buffalo meat live-weight for slaughter in the first Quarter of 2018 put up by 0.6% over the similar period last year; output of beef live-weight for slaughter grew by 3.2%; output of poultry live-weight for slaughter climbed by 6.8%; only output of pork live-weight for slaughter reduced by 1.2%.

Forestry: In the first Quarter of 2018, the concentrated planted forest area was estimated to reach 29.1 thousand ha, up 2.1% compared with the same period last year; the number of separate planted trees gained 16.4 million trees, a rise of 2.1%; wood production achieved 1928 thousand m3, a rise of 7.8%; firewood production gained 6.9 million steres, an increase of 0.7%.

In the first three months of the year, the whole country had 194.5 ha of damaged forest, down 2.9% against the same period last year, of which the burnt forest area was 53.2 ha, a decrease of 45.5%; the destroyed forest area was 141.3 ha, a rise of 37.6%.

Fishery: Fishing production in the first three months of the year was estimated to reach 1386.4 thousand tons, moving up by 4.4% over the same period last year, of which fish gained 1035.1 thousand tons, up 4.6%; shrimp reached 128.5 thousand tons, up 6.5%; other aquatic products achieved 222.8 thousand tons, up 2%.
Production of aquaculture in the first Quarter of 2018 was estimated to gain 610.8 thousand tons, rising by 5.9% from the similar period last year, of which fish reached 441.8 thousand tons, up 5.8%; shrimp gained 93.7 thousand tons, up 7.9%.

Production of fishery caught in the first three months of the year reached an estimate of 775.6 thousand tons, rising by 3.1% against the same period last year, of which fish gained 593.3 thousand tons, increasing by 3.8%; shrimp achieved 34.8 thousand tons, up 2.7% (Production of sea catching achieved 740.8 thousand tons, growing by 3.2%, of which fish gained 569.3 thousand tons, a rise of 3.9%; shrimp recorded 31.9 thousand tons, increasing by 2.2%).

Source: General Statistics Office