Vietnam Targets to Meet 70% of Rice Seed Demand in 2010: MARD
Vietnam will boost rice seed production so as to meet 70% of the domestic demand in 2010, according to the Cultivation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said.
Head of the department, Nguyen Tri Ngoc, said that the country will upgrade infrastructure for seed production, promote researching activities to breed new hybrids which are high-quality and high-yield rice varieties suitable for different eco-regions in the country.
The country planned to create large areas of rice hybrid production in provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and other localities.
So far this year, Vietnam has harvested 700,000 hectares of hybrid rice with an average yield of 6.3 tons per hectare, 1.5 ton/ha higher than inbreed varieties. It has also 1,600 hectares for hybrid seed production and provided 4,800 tons of rice seed for local farmers.
Currently, China is a biggest supplier of hybrid rice seed for Vietnam with more than 10,000 tons annually. But Chinese rice hybrids are offered at very high prices.
Chinese companies are selling their seeds for between VND43,000 and VND72,000 per kg, up VND15,000-VND30,000 per kg compared to previous season. (VNA, Vietnam Agriculture)
Tags: Vietnam agriculture, Vietnam rice
Posted by VBN on Dec 1 2009. Filed under Agriculture, Economy News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
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