Farmers in Vietnam are planting low and average quality rice because they lack sufficient skills to change to crops with better returns.
Farmers in Vinh Long Province plant low quality rice
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, an average 7.3 million of hectares is used to produce 45 million tonnes of rice every year. But although Vietnam is a major rice exporter, farmers still earn very low incomes.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Mekong Delta reported that even though productivity in the Mekong Delta had increased, rice quality remained poor. The ministry's report showed that farmers earned an average VND317,000 (USD15) per month.
Thach Puol, a farmer in Hau Giang Province, said, "I make a profit of VND12m a year. I can't support the whole family with it so my children went to Binh Duong Province to find work."
Thach said he still grew a low quality rice variety because it was easy to grow, attracted few pests and had high productivity. "It's suitable for farmers in rural areas, who don’t have access to new techniques," he said.
Farmer Le Van Hai also expressed a preference for low quality rice because the price disparity between poor and good quality rice wasn’t sufficiently large and the higher quality rice was more difficult to grow. However, the price gap in different quality rice is beginning to increase.
"Previously, the price disparity was VND250 per kilo. But this summer-autumn crop saw the price gap increase to VND350 per kilo," he said.
Fear of change is leaving farmers poor. In the last three years, farmers in the Mekong Delta have started to plant other kinds of low quality rice just because it's much safer to grow and has high productivity. This has had a negative effect on Vietnam rice exports, with Thailand and even Myanmar producing better quality rice for higher prices.
