MARD ensures land for rice farming

Illustration photo

Under Decree 42 to take effect next month, the Government will provide VND500,000 per ha per year to everyone growing wet rice.

It will also subsidise 70% of fertiliser and pesticide costs if the crop sustains more than 70% damage from natural disasters and other causes, and 50% if the damage is 30 – 70%.

The main goal of the decree is to maintain 3.8 million ha of land under rice. The support rates have been carefully considered to ensure their feasibility. They would encourage farmers to continue to grow rice and protect them from natural disasters and crop diseases.

Mr. Tran Xuan Dinh, Deputy Director of the Thai Binh Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the decree would play a significant role in motivating farmers to grow rice since they otherwise faced a lot of risk from natural disasters and diseases caused by climate change.

Currently the northern province gets a Government subsidy of around VND40 billion (US $1.9 million) to sustain rice production on 76,000 – 82,000ha every year.

In 2000-10 the country's rice-growing area dropped by nearly 370,000ha, according to a report from the ministry.

The decreasing trend has continued due to industrialisation, urbanisation, and infrastructure development.

Worse still is the fact that by 2020 at least another 300,000ha will be converted for use for other purposes, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

It is estimated that around 6,000ha would be lost due to the impact of climate change by 2020 and nearly 20,000ha by 2030, mostly in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, the ministry said./.