In a recent interview given to Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam, Nguyen Tri Ngoc, Director of the Cultivation Department, a unit of MARD, said that the high rice output and big stocks are both factors that cause many people to believe that Vietnam can export 6.5-7 million tons of rice in 2010.

The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) has unexpectedly proposed to increase the rice export volume by 0.5 million tons. Will local production be able to meet the demand for domestic consumption and exports?

 To date, Vietnam has harvested 26 million tons of rice from the winter-spring and summer-autumn crop, and we expect to have 13 million tons of rice more from now to the end of the year. It is highly possible that the rice export volume in 2010 could reach 6.5 million tons, while we can think of exporting up to seven million tons.

Vietnam exported six million tons of rice last year, and we still had one million tons left which allowed us to take the initiative to export rice in the first months of 2010. The rice output continues to increase this year. Besides, we also have rice brought in from Cambodia. Our farmers hire fields in Cambodia to cultivate rice and then bring the rice to Vietnam. The volume of rice brought from Cambodia was 300-400,000 tons last year, while we expect to have one million tons of rice from this source.

To date, Vietnam has exported more than four million tons of rice. Meanwhile, the Northern and Southern Food Corporations (Vinafood 1 and Vinafood 2), the two biggest food corporations, still have 1.1 million tons in stocks, and other companies have some 300,000 tons. From now to the end of the year, we will have rice from 300,000-500,000 hectares of fields every month. Therefore, even if we raise the export volume to 6.5-7 million tons this year, we will still be able to provide enough rice for domestic demand and export.

However, we need to be cautious because of possible weather calamities. Storms and rains will come in the next few months. Every year, we bear 7-9 storms, while we have seen two storms so far this year, which means that some five storms could still come. We will cooperate closely with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and VFA to keep watch over rice production, so we can give timely decisions on export volume.

 What are the biggest problems in rice production at the moment?

Nguyen Tri Ngoc: We are trying to reduce the area used for growing IR 50404, because it is difficult to sell this kind of rice. The problem is that the area for growing IR 50404 accounts for a big proportion of the area used for rice production in most regions. Low quality rice is still being purchased by Chinese merchants, but this just a temporary situation. If Vietnam continues producing low quality rice, we will not be able to sell it.

Previously, Vietnamese farmers only had two crops a year. However, farmers have been trying to cultivate more crops a year. Therefore, more pestilent insects have appeared, while farmers may meet storms and flood, which means high risks for farmers. It is necessary to re-arrange crops to minimize the negative impact of weather and pestilent insects.

The world has been warned about a possible food shortage in the time to come. Is this a worry for Vietnam?

 Vietnam does not have to worry about the rice supply, but it is lacking other kinds of grain used for animal feed. We now have to import big volumes of maize and soybean oil-cakes. If we cannot increase the cultivation and reduce the production cost of maize and soybean, the pressure on the husbandry sector will become more serious. We hope to have a capacity of 6-7 million tons or maize a year.

Source: Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam