The US$4.5-million project to upgrade the rice value chain in the Red River Delta kicked off in Lien Hoa Commune, Dong Hung District, the northern province of Thai Binh on February 21.

Local farmers are working in their farming area in Hanoi's My Duc District. Photo: Ngoc Anh

The project, with a non-refundable aid worth 5 billion KRW (over $4.5 million), is provided by the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs through the South Korean Rural Community Corporation (KRC).

The project will be carried out in Thai Binh, Nam Dinh and Hung Yen provinces in the 2022-2025 period.

Lee Dae-seob, Director of the project said an area of 2.4 ha will be zoned off for pilot rice cultivation, in which the Vietnamese and South Korean experts will jointly find the best rice varieties and help farmers increase incomes.

“It will also house a drying facility with a daily capacity of about 20 tons, and a storage system. The training area will facilitate capacity improvement for farmers and officials in terms of production and marketing,” he added.

Speaking at the project launching ceremony, Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh said, under the Project on restructuring Vietnam’s rice industry until 2025 with a vision to 2030, the Red River Delta is considered the rice bowl in northern Vietnam, specializing in the production of specialty rice and high-quality rice for the domestic market including Hanoi.

He underlined: “The implementation of the project is very necessary and in line with the Government’s policy on socio-economic development and rice development in the Red River Delta.”

It targets building a master plan on rice value chain development in the Red River Delta, improving rice farming efficiency in the context of climate change as well as successfully developing a sustainable and high-value cultivation model in Thai Binh and multiplying it later throughout the northern region. 

The project is expected to raise the income of rice farmers and economic efficiency in agricultural production in the Red River Delta.

The KRC is providing the Government’s non-refundable aid for five projects on fruit and animal health in the northern provinces of Thai Binh and Hai Duong and Hanoi’s Dong Anh District. It also carried out a public-private-partnership project on building a wholesale market of agro-fishery products and high-tech farming in Hanoi’s Gia Lam District, one on restructuring the agricultural sector in Dong Thap Province and another on rural development planning in the Mekong Delta.