Made-in-Vietnam varieties cover 59 percent of rice fieldsAs many as 4.6 million hectares of land, or 59 percent of total rice area in Vietnam, have been cultivated with domestically-made varieties, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Harvesting rice in the Mekong Delta regionIn the Mekong Delta region alone, the varieties made by Vietnamese scientists have been grown on 77 percent of the total rice area. The productivity of the new varieties is higher than old ones by an average 10 percent, equivalent to an addition 1.65 million tonnes of rice or over 8 trillion VND per year. In 2018, the MARD will promote technology research and transfer to serve the sector’s reform and the building of new-style rural areas in the 2018-2025 period. In 2017, Vietnam exported about 6 million tonnes of rice, over 1 million tonnes higher than last year’s figure.

Source: VietNamNet News February 26, 2018 03:11 UTC