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The Consul General of Thailand in Ho Chi Minh City led the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Cooperatives to pay a courtesy call on the Chairman of Can Tho City People’s Committee as well as the Can Tho Governor. On this occasion, the Committee on Agriculture and Cooperatives also made a study visit at Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute. Summaries are as follows;
1. Agricultural Potential of Can Tho City
Can Tho City is located on the South of Vietnam, South bank of the Hau Giang River, which is a distributary of the Mekong River. The city is 169 Kilometers far from Ho Chi Minh City and is the largest city among 13 cities in the Regional Mekong River Delta. It is also one of the five cities in where the government takes a direct control and supports important infrastructure projects such as international airport project, Can Tho bridge project, harbour expansion project for large cargo ships, and electric power plant project that generates 2,800 megawatts to enhance to be an economic development center in the Mekong River Basin.
In agriculture, soil fertility which has occurred from piling up of mud layer caused by flood has a beneficial effect on cultivation. Besides, the government has determined agricultural policies that take crucial parts to develop a country and to be a foundation of industrial development sector by emphasizing the development of both body of knowledge and agricultural techniques. Consequently, the universities, the research institutes as well as the cooperative projects with Thailand were established. The agriculture is considered as the heart of an economy in Can Tho City. Main agricultural products are rice, aquaculture and livestock.
Rice: Rice is an important economic crop as Can Tho City is the second largest rice-producing city in the country after An Yang province. If the amount of rice in Can Tho combines with other provinces in Mekong River Basin, the total amount of rice is worth a half of the whole country.
- Aquaculture: The most bred fish species are Baja (Striped catfish) and Basa fish (Vietnamese pangasius), especially the amount of Baja exports can be increased in the future. For prawn farming, the government sector tries to promote the development of giant river prawn species. However, aquaculture faces problems such as diseases of aquatic animals and quality of contaminated products, which eventually impact on export.
- Livestock: Economic animals are dairy cattle and poultry as well as eggs which can be produced approximately one hundred million eggs per year.
- Agricultural industry: Despite having an outstanding in agricultural products, an industrial goal mainly focuses on agricultural product processing. Can Tho has 5 industrial estates with an area of 1,000 hectares. There is also another industrial estate project which is expected to be able to expand industrial estates by approximately 5,000 - 6,000 hectares. The purpose of this expansion project is to implement an advanced technology in an investment. The government already enacted a new investment law in 2006, enforced equally to both domestic and international investors. This investment law has no restriction concerning a ratio of foreign shareholders. This means that foreigners can hold shares up to 100% or might be a co-investment. The Thai company, Charoen Pokphand Food PCL. for example, has been investing in an animal food factory and a full circle animal farm in which the company cooperates and does business directly with farmers and farm owners. These processes have been helping to pass on knowledge and developing Vietnam's agricultural techniques toward being a modernization.
2. Rice Cultivation
The varieties of rice that cultivated in the Mekong River Delta are mainly OM which is more than 70% of total cultivated lands. The method of rice cultivation is to strew over a section of fields and planting in rows. There is a determination of measures to reduce the use of pesticide and chemical fertilizer in order to increase the quality and value of product as well as to increase a productivity per Rai. When dealing with pests, farmers emphasize a guideline to manage pests by using integrated approaches. By doing this, farmers select varieties of rice that tolerant to local diseases and insects. Proper amount of fertilizer, water and a good management of soil will also affect a growth and integrity of rice. Additionally, conservation of natural insects provides benefits to farmers in controlling the population of rice pests. The amount of rice product depends on production season. In-season rice will give approximately 6 tons per hectare whereas off-season rice is around 4.5 tons per hectare. Therefore, farmers try to select a variety that rapidly gives product with roughly 90 – 100 days per production season.
Rice cultivation should be considered to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer. The government conducts a survey to find out which chemicals make a bad impact on ecosystem and enacts a law to prohibit from selling those chemicals as well as conducting a research to reduce a dependence on chemicals by studying which particular time is suitable for planting rice or which time insects will harm rice. Furthermore, the government studies a way to eliminate rice pests by using a natural way. For example, before starting a new cultivation, farmers must plow paddy field in order to regularly flood a field to prevent golden apple snails from laying their eggs and others. In the case of using chemical to control pests, the government will take a responsibility of expenses because it is considered as the protection of national interests.
When it comes to support farmers, the government does not use a rice pledging measure but policy intervene instead. For example, when there is a huge surplus of rice causing leftover in stocks, the government will subsidize to state-owned banks in order to grant a loan to state enterprise to buy rice from farmers. This is another way of buoyancy of rice.
3. Roles of Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute
Rice research institute was established in 1977 at Can Tho City. This institute is responsible for researching and developing new varieties of rice that give high productivity and suitable for cultivating lands around Mekong River Delta. The institute receives support and cooperation from international institutes to conduct such academic activities. This institute can produce 90 different varieties of rice. However, there are only 41 varieties that have been approved. The institute is also conducting an integrated farming program to increase both nutrient to soil and income of farmers. Such program focuses on planting rice with other crops or planting rice with fish or prawn farming. Moreover, the institute passes on technological knowledge and rice planting techniques to local farmers which can be proceeded in 2 different ways as follows: 1) Can Tho rice research institute passes on knowledge to other small institutes in different areas and 2) the institute invites farmers to attend a short training to be used as a guideline in a real practical concrete.
In addition, the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Cooperatives visited Vietnam Fruits and Vegetables Association (Vinafruit) and Thu Duc agricultural market at Ho Chi Minh City which can be summarized as follows:
4. Roles of Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association
Vietnam Fruits and Vegetables Association was established in 2001 at Ho Chi Minh City to support a trade and an export of fruits and vegetables. One of the main factors supporting to set up this association in Southern Vietnam is that two thirds of fruits and vegetables in the country come from this area and the government also wants to improve the varieties of such fruits and vegetables. Earlier, the appearance of products is not attractive. But nowadays, fruits and vegetables have been varietal improved to be more attractive products. Therefore, the Association has played an important role to develop the quality of fruits and vegetables to meet export standards. Exporting fruits and vegetables normally faces issues as follows: 1) maintaining hygienic quality and food safety. This means that there is a pesticide residue found in products. Hence, there is an implementation of Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) to be used as a guideline in order to produce quality products and meet all required standards and 2) pests damaging products. This results in the import countries especially, Japan, USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea to enact a law to prevent an import of fruits and vegetables from Vietnam.
5. Thu Duc Agricultural Market, Agricultural Distribution Centre
Thu Duc Agricultural Market is the center of agricultural distribution in Southern Vietnam and was established in 2003. Main agricultural products being trade here are fruits, vegetables and potatoes. Operation hour is during the night. The amount of both sellers and buyers is around 2,000 people per night with total volume of products, approximately 2,500 – 3,500 tons per night. This market also provides many services such as storage areas as well as quality control room. In case of finding pesticide residue in agricultural products, those products will be sent back to producers because Vietnam does not have any penalty policy.
Views and Suggestions from the Study Visit
The Senate Committee viewed that agricultural sector of Vietnam is growing rapidly because there is a support of development on both body of knowledge and planting techniques to farmers. Similarly, Thailand is trying to determine new guidelines to pass on new knowledge to farmers. By doing so, the government supports farmers to be knowledgeable to do agricultural processes such as soil preparation, fertilizer application according to period of time, the amount of nutrient needed for each plants and a period of time plus appropriate amount of the use of pesticides.
Vietnam can do agriculture all year long because there is an adequate natural water resource. However, Thailand usually faces flood problems during a rainy season which causes a flood in agricultural lands. During dry season, on the other hand, there is a lack of water for cultivation. Therefore, if a water management system can provide enough water to all areas, it will greatly benefit to Thai farmers.
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