AsemconnectVietnam - Vietnam to have enough 8 million tonnes of rice for export. Vietnam to cultivate 'low-emission' rice this year. Mekong Delta farmers cultivating rice as part of VnSAT project. Soc Trang kicks off sustainable high-quality rice project. Rice to be granted to school children in extremely disadvantaged communes.

8 million tonnes of rice for export
Vietnam’s rice output is expected to reach 43 million tonnes in 2024, which can ensure domestic consumption and export demand of more than 8 million tonnes, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
In the first four months of 2024, Vietnam earned 2.08 billion USD from shipping 3.23 million tonnes of rice abroad, up 36.5% in value and 11.7% in volume over the same period last year. The surge in value was attributed to a 22.2% rise in exported rice price to 644 USD per tonne since the beginning of this year.
Cultivate 'low-emission' rice this year
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said if everything goes as planned, Vietnam will have low-emission rice by August. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has established a steering committee on developing 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice in the Mekong River Delta. The office of the steering committee is cooperating with agencies to submit to MARD a plan and farming techniques for low-emission rice. It will also survey project implementation in Kien Giang and Dong Thap, two of the five provinces chosen for the model on a trial basis. The coordination office also plans to organize conferences and workshops to consult with agencies about measurement, reporting and verification procedure (MRV); and build a training model for capability strengthening, communications plan and community agriculture encouragement.
VnSAT project developing high-quality low-emission rice
Under the Vietnam Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project (VnSAT), Mekong Delta farmers are developing high-quality low-emission rice and sell carbon credits. When launching the project on developing 1 million hectares of high-quality low-emission rice areas by 2030, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) estimated that farmers can reduce input production costs and increase selling prices, and earn money from selling carbon credits.
It is expected that production costs will decrease by 20 percent, allowing farmers to save VND9.5 trillion a year, while rice prices may increase by 10 percent, allowing them to earn VND7 trillion more a year. Meanwhile, the World Bank has promised to buy carbon credits from the project at $10 per credit. This means that farmers will collect $100 million a year from carbon credit sale.
High-quality rice project of Soc Trang
A ceremony took place in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang on May 22 to start a sustainable development project targeting one million hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice linked to green growth in the region.
Soc Trang is one of five provinces chosen by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to pilot this project. According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, it is set to be implemented across nine local districts, towns, and cities. The goal is to achieve 38,500 hectares of the grain by 2025 and 72,000 hectares by 2030.
Speaking at the ceremony, Le Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of the MARD’s Department of Crop Production, stated that the project aims to reorganise the production system according to value chains, apply sustainable farming practices to enhance value, improve production efficiency, increase income and living standards for farmers, protect the environment, and adapt to climate change, among others.
Rice to be granted to school children in extremely disadvantaged communes
The Ministry of Finance has issued a decision on granting rice from the national reserves to schoolchildren in extremely poor communes. Under Decision 1078/QD-BTC, 58,325 kg of rice will be handed over to some provinces to be given to children in the target localities for use in the second semester of the 2023-2024 academic year.
The distribution of rice is made following stipulations in the Government’s Decree 116/2016/ND-CP on support policy for students and schools in extremely poor areas.
T.Huong
Source: Vitic/VNA