Innovating economic thinking in agriculture.
(Baonghean)In 1992, hybrid rice was first introduced for trial cultivation in Nghe An province at four agricultural cooperatives: Hung Tien (Hung Nguyen), Dien Xuan (Dien Chau), Lien Thanh (Yen Thanh), and Lac Son (Do Luong). Initially, the scale was only 22 hectares, with an average yield of 70.6 quintals/hectare and a total production of 155 tons, far exceeding the yield of conventional rice varieties produced on a large scale at that time.
With those impressive results, in 1993 the area planted with hybrid rice increased to 1,308 hectares in the rice-growing districts of the province, with a yield of 72.2 quintals/hectare, resulting in a total production of 9,443 tons.
In 1994, hybrid rice was mass-produced throughout the province with an area of 6,519 hectares and a yield of 44,503 tons. For 10 consecutive years (1996-2005), the area of hybrid rice increased rapidly, from 18,411 hectares (1996) to 76,338 hectares (2005). From 2005 to the present, the area of hybrid rice has not decreased but has remained stable at 70,000 hectares or more, with a record high of 81,247 hectares in 2009. In 2011, the area of hybrid rice was still 72,662 hectares with a yield of 470,603 tons. In the early years (1992-1998), developing hybrid rice aimed at achieving a food production target of 1 million tons per year for the province, which was reasonable. During that period, the hybrid rice production movement was vigorously directed, with acreage targets assigned to each locality, cooperative, and production team. However, once hybrid rice had fulfilled its historical role, a new rice variety structure should have been created to replace hybrid rice with high-quality varieties to increase the value of agricultural production. But this process was slow because the economic thinking in agricultural production did not keep pace with the development of the market economy.
If all 3 million people in Nghe An province ate hybrid rice, the annual production of 1 million tons would still be consumed. However, the reality is that urban residents don't eat hybrid rice. Currently, urban residents and a large portion of rural populations consume sticky rice produced within the province, imported from other provinces, or Thai and Laotian rice. This is the reason why the domestic market for hybrid rice has shrunk to the point where it's unsaleable. Hybrid rice is now only a self-sufficient product for poor farming families or used for livestock feed, with a small amount used in beer and liquor production. Clearly, the backwardness in economic thinking in agriculture has led to the continued large-scale and high-yield production of hybrid rice for many years without considering its economic efficiency.
When hybrid rice loses its commercial value, farmers abandon their fields to work as laborers for money, or switch to growing sticky rice varieties for consumption and to sell at higher prices in rural markets. A spontaneous movement among farmers to produce high-quality rice varieties has emerged in many localities over the years. In recent years, districts have directed an increase in the area dedicated to the cultivation of high-quality rice varieties, resulting in a gradual decrease in the area planted with hybrid rice.
However, by 2012, hybrid rice still accounted for over 60% of the province's cultivated area, leading to thousands of tons of surplus rice in warehouses that could not be sold. It is time for the province to take decisive action to rapidly reduce the area planted with hybrid rice, replacing it with high-quality rice varieties with high market value. The agricultural sector must mobilize scientists to research and create a set of high-quality rice varieties suitable for the soil and climate conditions of Nghe An, ensuring both good rice quality and high yields to replace hybrid rice. Farmers are accustomed to growing hybrid rice, which is a short-day variety with good pest and disease resistance and weather tolerance, yielding high productivity. High-quality rice varieties must also meet these criteria to be suitable for mass production. It is necessary to limit and eliminate long-day rice varieties with low yield and poor quality, such as the IR1820 variety currently grown by farmers in many areas.
The production of high-quality rice varieties to replace hybrid rice must be decisively directed by the province, just as it was directed for hybrid rice production. If farmers are left to develop their own methods or districts are left to direct production independently, the desired results cannot be achieved. Based on a renewed economic mindset in agriculture, food production should be measured not only by output but also by the value of goods sold in the market, both domestically and for export.
Tran Hong Co
