Large-scale commodity production increased sharply.

Up to now, the productivity and quality of most major crops have increased and improved significantly. However, this sector needs to continue to promote the restructuring process to completely shift to large-scale commodity production for international integration, competition and sustainable development.

Conference to review 2 years of restructuring the crop sector.

At the conference to review 2 years of restructuring the crop sector, held on July 22 in Hanoi, Mr. Ma Quang Trung, Director of the Department of Crop Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the productivity of most major crops has increased sharply. Specifically, from 2012 to present, rice productivity has increased from 56.4 quintals/ha to 57.6 quintals/ha; corn has increased from 43 quintals/ha to 44.1 quintals/ha; pepper has increased from 25 quintals/ha to 26 quintals/ha, especially cashew productivity has increased from 9.7 quintals/ha to 12 quintals/ha...

Along with that, the whole country has built many large-scale model fields, linking production with product consumption according to the value chain; maintaining and expanding many concentrated industrial crop and fruit tree production areas on a large scale such as rubber-coffee-cashew-pepper areas (Southeast and Central Highlands); tea areas (Northern midlands and Lam Dong); fruit tree areas in the South, dragon fruit in Binh Thuan, lychee in Bac Giang...

In addition, some export products have dominated the world market with strong export turnover value growth such as vegetables and fruits increasing by an average of 42.8%/year, pepper increasing by 23%/year, cashew nuts increasing by 16.5%/year... which have contributed significantly to creating jobs, increasing income, improving living conditions, and reducing poverty rates for farmers.

However, with the current market developments, it is clear that the growth rate of the cultivation sector is not stable and is showing signs of decline with the growth rate in the first 6 months of 2015 reaching only nearly 2% compared to the growth rates of 3% and 3.2% in 2013 and 2014.

In addition, limited post-harvest preservation and processing technology, along with many shortcomings in food safety and hygiene, are the main reasons why agricultural products face difficulties in the domestic market and face many barriers when penetrating large markets such as the US, EU, Japan, etc.

Regarding the restructuring of the rice industry, the Department of Crop Production assessed that after the implementation process, many localities in the Northern provinces have increased the rate of using high-quality rice varieties to serve domestic consumption, while in the Mekong Delta, about 41% of high-quality varieties have been used for export.

Along with that, many localities have directed the promotion of the application of advanced technical measures; reducing the amount of seeds sown; reducing the cost of fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation water as well as converting rice growing areas to other crops or aquaculture for higher economic efficiency.

In addition, many rice consuming and exporting enterprises have linked up with farmers, building raw material areas through consumption contracts, material supply, and technical support. As a result, from 2013 to the end of the Winter-Spring crop in 2015, thousands of large-scale field models have been linked and built in localities with an area of ​​about 556,000 hectares.

Acknowledging the initial results, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat frankly said: “In general, the rate of high-quality rice is still low, especially in the Mekong Delta region, and the production cost is relatively high, so the products are difficult to compete in the market. Therefore, restructuring the rice industry requires a comprehensive review, fundamental changes and adjustments to solutions, increasing the rate of production area linked to the chain to penetrate more strongly into the high-quality rice segment of the world market.”

According to Chinhphu.vn