Amid the world facing a shortage of seven million tonnes of rice, the nation has seized a “golden” opportunity to increase exports, according to industry insiders. With regard to the country’s potential to export rice this year, Nguyen Nhu Cuong, director of the Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that although the world has a high demand for rice, Vietnam is unable to increase its rice cultivation area. Cuong underlined the need to increase the overall production area, adjust crops to reap good yields, and harvest at a time when countries globally are facing a scarcity of rice, thereby increasing rice product value.
This year has seen the Vietnamese rice cultivation area stands at about 7.1 million hectares and is expected to meet the export demand of more than 7.5 million tonnes if there are no weather abnormalities, natural disasters, and epidemics, he said.
The country has been proactively producing and exporting rice according to the global demand but the Vietnamese rice industry is required to ensure domestic food security, Cuong added. Cuong stressed that the Department of Crop Production needs to grasp market information, particularly relating to the global and domestic demand for rice as a way of adjusting the proper crop schedule in order to ensure the best supply source of Vietnamese rice. Moreover, he underlined the need to take drastic solutions aimed at minimising production costs and damages caused b.
