A farmer is crying when seeing her rice dying in the serious drought which is hitting the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang this year.
Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Economic Committee, Nguyen Van Giau, said in a report on land use planning for the 2016-2020 period that the government has suggested to only keep 3.8 million hectares of land for rice farming by 2020.
According to the committee's report, Vietnam has recored huge surpluses because some of the country's export markets have been able to produce their own supply.
Therefore, Giau said that the committee has agreed with the government's suggestion of switching 52,000 hectares of rice farming land to other purposes including developing urban infrastructure, industries or growing other plants. The converted land lies mostly in areas which frequently face floods, drought, or saline instrusion.
As such, the Red River Delta will lose 19,000 hectares of rice-growing area, the central and coastal region 16,000 hectares, the south-eastern region 21,000 and the Mekong River Delta 36,000 hectares.
"The government also planned to apply high technologies in rice farming which aims to raise quality and quantity," said the report. "Average annual yields are expected to reach 6 tonnes a hectare, with total production reach 42 million tonnes a year which will ensure food supply for an expected population of 120 million by 2020.