“Abundant’ is the word used by farmers when talking about rice production in 2023, when not only the yield was greater than usual, but the rice prices were also high, bring high profits to them.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) reported that the total cultivated area was 7.16 million hectares, a decrease of 9,000 hectares compared with the year before, but the yield increased by 100 kilograms per hectares, so the total rice output reached 43.6 million tons.

The plentiful supply not only satisfied domestic consumption and storage demand, but also allowed export of 8 million tons, reaping $4.8 billion, up 38.7 percent over 2022.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s five percent broken rice export price soared from $473 per ton to $663 per ton. Vietnamese rice was more expensive than products of the same kind from other big export countries.

The high quality of Vietnam’s rice products was seen once again when its ST25 rice variety was recognized as the best rice at a competition in 2023.

On the last days of 2023, Mekong Delta farmers sold fresh paddy at VND9,200 per kilogram at rice fields, the highest price level in history.

Bui Van Tuan, director of Cay Trom Agriculture Cooperation in Long An province, said with the current paddy price standing high, and three rice crops a year, the members of the cooperative can make a profit of VND90-100 million per hectare per annum.

In the north, farmers pocket VND37 million per hectare per annum.

At the 2023 year-end press conference, MARD Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said there were many records, including highest export prices, highest export volume and highest export turnover in history.

However, Bong said at the conference reviewing the performance of the agriculture sector held recently that there are still two outstanding things that need to be solved. He called them ‘debts’.

First, the agriculture sector's promise of improving farmers’ incomes still cannot be implemented. The second 'debt' is that plant protection chemicals are still used which causes greenhouse gas emissions.

Loc Troi Group can now make polymer bags using materials from rice husks. With 43 million tons of paddy, there would be 5 million tons of rice husks which is high enough to make millions of tons of biological polymer, bringing profit of $3-3.5 billion a year.

Tam An