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| Researchers at the University of Agriculture inspect hybrid rice seedlings. To meet the country’s growing rice needs, high-yield varieties will need to make up 70 per cent of the nation’s total rice area by 2010, the Government says. — VNS/VNS Photo Minh Dong |
HA NOI — The agriculture sector will put in maximum efforts to increase the area of hybrid rice to 70 per cent of the country’s total rice area by 2010, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong in a meeting of the ministry on Wednesday held to discuss the result of the winter-spring rice harvest.
In order to meet this goal, he suggested mobilising large enterprises to get involved in the production of hybrid rice seeds so as to reduce the import volume of hybrid rice every year, which stands at about 13,000 tonnes at the moment.
To do this, the country will have to increase by one-and-a-half times the current area of rice fields. According to Nguyen Tri Hoan, deputy director of the Food Crops Research Institute, the task is a difficult one to achieve as the timeline set is too short and firms producing rice seed have not expressed any interest in hybrid rice.
Statistics provided by the Cultivation Department showed that at present domestic enterprises were capable of producing between 3,500 to 4,000 tonnes of hybrid rice seed each year whereas the country’s demand for it was between 15,000 to 18,000 tonnes.
A representative of the Southern Seedlings Company said that the production of hybrid rice seed was a challenging one, especially in terms of capital and production techniques. The field required higher investment capital and the procedural aspects were more complicated than normal rice seed which explained why companies were hesitant to go into its production.
“In the first six months of 2008, Thanh Hoa Province cultivated 170ha for hybrid rice seed, a decrease by 14ha from the first six months of 2007. The province has to import more than 2,600 tonnes of hybrid rice seed,” said Nguyen Xuan Sang, director of Thanh Hoa Province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
According to Nguyen Tri Ngoc, head of the Cultivation Department, the area cultivating for hybrid rice for seed in 2008 is expected to reach 1,200 ha, which is only 50 per cent compared to previous years’ figures.
The productivity of hybrid rice seed is higher than pure rice seed from 10 to 20 per cent. Another advantage is that this kind of hybrid rice seed can adapt better to changes in weather and can be grown in different areas, from mainland to midland or mountainous areas.
The production of these rice seeds in the country could help reduce the price for farmers from VND4,000 to VND5,000 ($0.29) per kilogram.
This is why the cultivation department is urging the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to increase their support to the expansion of the projects on hybrid rice seed and enterprises operating in this field. Currently, enterprises in this sector have been supported with VND6 million (US$350) per one hectare producing hybrid rice seed, and they have to pay VND30 million more ($1,750) per hectare. For pure rice seed, they have to invest VND8 million ($470) per hectare.
Additionally, the agriculture sector will also strengthen the state’s management on quality of hybrid rice seed as well as punish those enterprises producing low quality rice seed. —
