Land retained to strengthen food security, end hunger
 
VNS 25-12-2009
 
HA NOI — Viet Nam aims to end hunger by 2012 and increase farmer
income by 2.5 times by 2020, according to a recent Government
resolution on food security.
 
The resolution was issued on Wednesday based on the fact that Viet
Nam, the second largest rice exporter after Thailand, was seeking a
solution to the risk of food shortages, especially in the context of
climate change, said cultivation department head Nguyen Tri Ngoc.
 
Ngoc said: "Viet Nam needs a strategic solution for its rice
production to guarantee sustainable development."
 
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Development’s report,
Viet Nam has 4 million hectares for growing rice and produces more
than 24.5 million tonnes and exports 4.5 to 5 million tonnes of rice a
year.
 
Ngoc estimated that Viet Nam could produce over 27 million tonnes of
rice this year despite the impact of the storms thanks to the new
technology in the industry.
 
The country could export 4.5 to 5 million tonnes of rice per year,
Ngoc said, but a lack of food and relapses into poverty still occurs
in some remote mountainous, border and coastal regions which are prone
to natural disasters.
 
Meanwhile, the General Statistics Office underlined the fact that 6.7
per cent of households, accounting for 1.47 million households, still
suffer from food shortages.
 
"This isn’t acceptable, that while Viet Nam is exporting rice, a
section of the population in the country lack rice." Ngoc added that
the low quality of rice processing and preservation systems and rice
trading networks had fuelled food "fever" early last year.
 
He also said that pollution growth rate was one of the biggest
challenges to food security as Viet Nam is predicted to have 120-130
million people by 2030. The population currently stands at some 86
million.
 
Land for cultivation is reducing throughout the country. Cultivated
land in Viet Nam reduced by 360,000ha compared to 2000 due to the
shifting of agricultural land to other purposes.
 
Climate change
 
Adding to the problem, said the official, climate change and the plant
diseases were other potential threats to Viet Nam’s rice production.
 
Ngoc said rice diseases often damaged about 1 million of tonnes of
unhusked rice each year in the Mekong Delta, the rice bowl of Viet
Nam.
 
"Maintaining area devoted to rice cultivation is a major priority,"
said Ngoc, adding: "We must keep at least 4 million hectares of land
for rice among the current 7.2 million hectares of agricultural land.
Only by that can we produce 40 million tonnes of food stuff per year."
 
To do that, Ngoc said it was crucial to amend the land law by limiting
the power of localities to change the usage of farm land for other
purposes, without being responsible for their decisions.
 
Nguyen Duy Duc, deputy director of the Viet Nam Institute of
Agriculture Engineering and Post-Harvest Technology, said there should
be a combination between the restructuring of land use and the
restructuring of agricultural production. Farmers should use more
modern technology for better results.
 
Duc said all economic sectors should be encouraged to get involved in
manufacturing farming machines.
 
He suggested that all the localities help farmers with interest-free
loans for improving their farming facilities such as drying grounds
and tents for better rice preservation.
 
According to the Govern-ment’s resolution, relevant authorities should
build rice stores capable of holding 4 million tonnes of rice by 2012
for better reserves.
 
More flexibility
 
The resolution also asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to
improve its ability and be more flexible in the management of rice
exports while asking the Ministry of Finance to complete the
agriculture insurance project, especially the insurance for rice
production.
 
The Ministry of Home Affairs must study and plan a national committee
for food security, said the resolution.
 
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also plans to
increase the average consumption of calories per person per day up to
2,600-2,700 and reduce the rate of malnutrition among children under
five to less than 5 per cent by 2020.
 
According to the Viet Nam Food Association, up to early December,
businesses registered exports of 6.7 million tonnes of rice. — VNS