Bac Lieu plans to create five large-scale rice fields with a total area of 25,000ha this year (Photo: VNA) Bac Lieu (VNA) - The Mekong Deltaprovince of Bac Lieu plans to create five large-scale rice fields with a totalarea of 25,000ha this year and six more with a combined area of 31,000ha nextyear, according to the provincial Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment.
The province hopes by next year to have 10,000haof large-scale rice fields, created by pooling individual farmers’ lands toachieve economies of scale, adopting Vietnamese good agricultural practices(VietGAP) standards.
Luong Ngoc Lan, director of the department, saidthe province is implementing policies to stimulate consumption of agriculturalproduce, create large-scale rice fields, create tie-ups between farmers andcompanies to guarantee sales of their produce, and restructure agriculturetowards value addition and sustainability.
To achieve the targets it would invest ininfrastructure for large-scale rice fields, including electric pumpingstations, roads, irrigation systems, drying facilities, and rice processing andpreserving facilities, he said.
The province plans to set up co-operatives andco-operative teams that can instruct farmers in growing crops and representthem in negotiations with companies.
It will help adopt advanced farming techniques anduse machinery at all stages of growing and preserving rice.
It has encouraged large and prestigious companiesto invest in its large-scale rice fields and adopt VietGAP standards andguarantee purchase of more rice from the large-scale fields.
The department has petitioned the provincial People’sCommittee for funding to create efficient rice farming models using VietGAP andorganic standards.
It also wants the People’s Committee to getresearch institutes and universities to improve the quality of local specialityrice varieties and create new fragrant and high-quality varieties that suitlocal conditions and can cope with climate change.
The province has 21 large-scale rice fields with atotal area of 11,400ha. Most rice grown there are high-quality andfragrant varieties.
Individual farmers with contiguous fields willgrow the same variety and follow the same schedule and techniques. The entireharvest of large-scale fields is guaranteed purchase.
The province has some 183,000ha of land under riceand produces 1 million tonnes of paddy annually.
Rice is the main source of income for farmers, butmost grow on a small scale and lose out on the advantages offered by scale.-VNA
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