The Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Mekong Delta provinces and provincial governments are introducing ways to cut rice inventories and promote rice consumption as low rice prices are weighing on farmers in the winter-spring rice crop, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reported.

Farmers harvest rice in the Mekong Delta 

IR-50404 rice sells for VND4,400-4,500 per kilogram and high-quality rice for VND4,600-5,200 per kilogram, causing losses for farmers.

Tran Van Tam, a farmer in Hau Giang Province, said that at the beginning of the sowing season, rice traders offered him VND5,300 per kilogram for his IR-50404 rice, but he refused the deal as he thought the rice price would increase after the Tet holiday as it did for the 2018 winter-spring crop. However, the price of IR-50404 rice edged down VND1,000 to VND4,300 per kilogram after the holiday.

Due to the falling rice prices, the Kien Giang Province’s agriculture sector has called on enterprises that consume rice to ease the difficulties faced by farmers.

Phan Kim Loan, head of the Agriculture and Rural Development division of Tan Hiep District, Kien Giang Province, said that the division has asked firms in the province to comply with their signed contracts for purchasing rice at the beginning of the sowing season at the price of VND5,200 per kilogram.

Do Minh Nhut, deputy director of the Kien Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that as no information has been disclosed, farmers are concerned about the falling prices even further, potentially resulting in firms cancelling their contracts.

The department is in the process of reviewing the signed contracts and reviewing how these firms will address the problem as low rice prices will affect their business activities, Nhut said.

According to Tran Anh Thu, vice chairman of An Giang Province, after Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved a plan to stock up on rice to shore up the prices of the staple food, the province saw the rice price inch up.

Thu said that the fall in rice price was temporary due to China-bound rice shipments being stalled before the Tet holiday. The suspension arose as China wanted to inspect the quality of rice imported from Vietnam.

The relevant agencies are also promoting new consumption markets, Thu said, proposing that firms purchase rice from farmers as usual if they are not dependant on the Chinese market, while others that have signed rice-purchase contracts with farmers should continue to purchase the rice at the same price as contracted. As for commercial banks, they should offer a preferential interest rate to these firms.

The An Giang government has assigned the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to work with districts’ authorities to discuss a production plan for the summer-autumn rice crop this year and encourage farmers to grow types of rice sought after by other potential markets in addition to China.

Due to the hardship, a working team from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will launch a fact-finding trip on rice harvest and consumption in the Long An and Dong Thap provinces today, February 25.

SGT