VietNamNet Bridge – Low, unstable incomes have prompted farmers and major agriculture producers to shift to other kinds of work.

Nguyen Loi Duc, proclaimed as the “Rice King” in the western part of the southern region

Nguyen Loi Duc, proclaimed as the “Rice King” in the western part of the southern region, said in Tuoi Tre newspaper that he is trying to “escape” from rice fields by turning 71 hectares of land in Vinh Gia District into a farm for thousands of cows.

Duc said rice growers have been facing difficulties for many years, despite support from the State. Vietnam is the world’s biggest rice exporter, but its export markets are unstable. Some loyal markets have narrowed, while Vietnam has been increasingly depending on China as its largest export market.

Vietnam rice now has to compete with Thailand, India and Pakistan in the world  market. Myanmar and Cambodia have been stepping up rice production also.

“Things are believed to become even more difficult in the time to come. It’s necessary to think of solutions now, or it will be too late,” Duc said.

Rice growers have been staying poor for years. A lot of poor farmers have left their home villages , selling or leasing fields, for industrial zones where they hope they can earn more money.

In rural areas, unstable and low-income jobs cannot retain young people. As a result, many of them leave the countryside, resulting in a serious lack of workers for agriculture production.

“More seriously, the land, which has been overexploited, has become exhausted. As a result, farmers have to use more fertilizer and pesticides in cultivation, thus leading to higher production costs and lower profits,” Duc said.

“The vicious circle has forced many farmers, including me, to shift to other kind of business. We cannot live on farming rice anymore,” he concluded.

Land left uncultivated

One or two years ago, local newspapers reported that rice fields were being left uncultivated. Giving up rice fields has turned into a  “movement”, which, in the eyes of analysts, is a “worrying phenomenon”.

In An Giang Province, one of the biggest rice granaries in Vietnam, even the most fertile soil has been left idle. Local farmers either lease the land to others, or use the land for aquaculture or cultivation of other crops.

According to Tran Van Mi, head of the Tri Ton District’s Agriculture Sub-department, where there are 43,000 hectares of rice land, only 60 percent of households grow rice, while the others lease land because of ineffective production.

“We keep incurring losses and we cannot live on farming rice. So we have to give up farming,” said Le Van Ngon, a farmer in Khanh Loi Hamlet, who grows rice on 15,000 square meters of land.

Ngon said that if he is lucky, he can make a modest profit of hundreds of thousands of dong for every 1,000 square meters of rice fields. In recent years, rice prices have been fluctuating, however.

Earlier this year, hundreds of farmers gave up rice fields and rushed to farm fish. Ngon decided to sell 5,000 square meters of land to get money to invest in fish farming.

In the north, 42,000 households have reportedly given back fields to local authorities.

Dat Viet