With an annual production of about 25 million tonnes, accounting for 55percent of the country’s total rice production, the Mekong Delta hasbecome the largest rice granary in the country, said the Communist Partyof Vietnam (CPV) Online Newspaper.
However, post-harvest lossesare still high and this has resulted in poor improvement of farmers'living standards. It is necessary to apply modern technology to improvethe quality of rice and minimize post-harvest losses, said thenewspaper.
According to Dr. Pham Van Tan, from the Vietnam Instituteof Agricultural Engineering & Post-Harvest Technology (SIAEP), therice supply chain consists of a logical technological process in thefollowing stages: breeding, cultivation (planting and care), harvesting,drying, storage, husking, processing and consumption.
In thechain of the process, the quality of product does not only depend on thequality of the technology applied during that stage, but also dependson the quality of the technology at every previous stage.
Developmentof the rice supply chain in the Mekong Delta, has shown that thepurpose of the preservation is to ensure the quality of rice. Mostfarmers in the Mekong Delta can only afford to preserve rice seed fornext crop and harvested rice for family consumption.
If theycannot sell rice immediately after preliminary drying, due to too lowmarket prices farmers often temporarily store rice in PP bags or jutebags of 30 - 50kg. They pile them anywhere available and cover them withcanvas to protect them from the rain and frogs between one and twoweeks at best and several months at worst. This method of storage, forany period, reduces the quality of rice and cause economic losses.
Inrecent years, drying rice by machine after harvest has developedsignificantly in the Delta, accounting for about 47 percent of the cropcompared to the demand.
To reduce the post harvest losses,the drying and preservation of rice are two key steps that need to bestandardized throughout the Mekong delta in an effort to improvefarmers’ living standards in the region.-VNA
However, post-harvest lossesare still high and this has resulted in poor improvement of farmers'living standards. It is necessary to apply modern technology to improvethe quality of rice and minimize post-harvest losses, said thenewspaper.
According to Dr. Pham Van Tan, from the Vietnam Instituteof Agricultural Engineering & Post-Harvest Technology (SIAEP), therice supply chain consists of a logical technological process in thefollowing stages: breeding, cultivation (planting and care), harvesting,drying, storage, husking, processing and consumption.
In thechain of the process, the quality of product does not only depend on thequality of the technology applied during that stage, but also dependson the quality of the technology at every previous stage.
Developmentof the rice supply chain in the Mekong Delta, has shown that thepurpose of the preservation is to ensure the quality of rice. Mostfarmers in the Mekong Delta can only afford to preserve rice seed fornext crop and harvested rice for family consumption.
If theycannot sell rice immediately after preliminary drying, due to too lowmarket prices farmers often temporarily store rice in PP bags or jutebags of 30 - 50kg. They pile them anywhere available and cover them withcanvas to protect them from the rain and frogs between one and twoweeks at best and several months at worst. This method of storage, forany period, reduces the quality of rice and cause economic losses.
Inrecent years, drying rice by machine after harvest has developedsignificantly in the Delta, accounting for about 47 percent of the cropcompared to the demand.
To reduce the post harvest losses,the drying and preservation of rice are two key steps that need to bestandardized throughout the Mekong delta in an effort to improvefarmers’ living standards in the region.-VNA
