The province currently has 318 growing area codes issued to serve agricultural exports

"Conquering" the Dong Thap Muoi region

The Dong Thap Muoi region of the province has a natural area of 299,452 hectares. In the first years after liberation, 2/3 of the area of the region was fallow land (186,000 hectares), sparsely populated, growing only one crop of floating rice all year round, yielding from 9-10 quintals/hectare, average food per capita was less than 100kg/person/year. A large part of the population was poor, life was extremely difficult.

Therefore, the Provincial Party Committee paid special attention and focused on investment through important resolutions such as the policy of "Building a comprehensive program to develop the potential Dong Thap Muoi region" (Third Provincial Party Congress (1983-1985)); “Focusing on multi-faceted investment to exploit the potential of districts in the Dong Thap Muoi area” (4th Provincial Party Congress (1986-1990)); Key program to fill the Dong Thap Muoi area (5th Provincial Party Congress (1991-1995)); Key program to improve people's livelihood in flood-affected areas (7th Provincial Party Congress (2001-2005)); Program to build residential clusters and routes and Program to invest in building and developing new rural areas (9th Provincial Party Congress (2010-2015)); etc.

In particular, the 20-year period of filling the Dong Thap Muoi area (1979-1999) is outstanding. During this period, the province successfully and effectively exploited more than 150,000 hectares of fallow land in the area to put into agricultural production, afforestation and other civil works.

At the same time, more than 44,000 new economic households (from southern districts, neighboring provinces and cities) were arranged to implement the policy of relocating the population, linking labor with land, eliminating hunger, reducing poverty and creating a solid people's security posture in the southwestern border area.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, in 20 years (1979-1999), the rice area increased from 62,000 hectares to 293,000 hectares, the yield increased from 25 quintals/hectare to 39.8 quintals/hectare, the output increased from 156,000 tons to 1,165,000 tons (in 20 years, the rice area increased 5 times, the yield increased 1.6 times and the output increased 7 times).

Along with that, the infrastructure developed rapidly. Before 1979, rural transportation was mainly by waterway, most people used rainwater or filtered river water for daily activities. By 1999, 45 communes in the Dong Thap Muoi area had car roads to the center, 52% of households used clean water for daily activities.

In addition, the irrigation system was also invested in, gradually meeting the irrigation needs for nearly 300,000 hectares of rice all year round. The half-dyke system also ensured the production of about 20,000 hectares of Summer-Autumn rice. People's lives were gradually improved thanks to that.

The 10-year period of implementing the Flooded Area People's Livelihood Program (2001-2010) was considered a development step from the achievements of the Multi-objective Program to exploit the potential of the Dong Thap Muoi area (1979-1999) of the province. From the central capital sources supported in combination with local capital and other capital, the Dong Thap Muoi area has changed a lot.

Accordingly, in 2009, the annual rice cultivation area of the Dong Thap Muoi region reached 332,698 hectares, yielding 49.4 quintals/hectare, output of 1,643,528 tons (accounting for nearly 76% of the province's rice output), especially in the Dong Thap Muoi region, there have been solutions to control yellow dwarf and rice leaf curl diseases, ensuring stable production.

Mechanization in agriculture helps farmers in flood-affected areas to produce conveniently in land preparation, spraying, sowing, and building small electric pumping stations. Harvesting rice by combine harvesters has increased rapidly, from 60-70% of the area (the number of machines in the Dong Thap Muoi region accounts for nearly 90% of the total number of machines in the province), reducing production costs and limiting labor shortages during peak crop seasons.

Regarding irrigation, the province has invested in completing many multi-purpose projects in the Dong Thap Muoi region such as canals 79, Tan Thanh - Lo Gach, So Ha - Cai Co to create water sources, flood drainage, combined with waterway and road traffic connecting the regions and neighboring provinces; investing in repairing more than 1,090km of half-dykes, protecting more than 51,220 hectares; more than 30 small two-way electric pumping stations (irrigation and pumping); etc.

From 2011-2019, the rice yield in the Dong Thap Muoi region continued to increase rapidly from 50.9 quintals/hectare (2010) to 55.1 quintals/hectare (2014), rice output increased from 1.75 million tons to 2.86 million tons (2014), including more than 750,000 tons of high-quality rice and thousands of hectares produced according to "large field model ".

Specialized rice growing areas in Vinh Hung, Tan Hung, Thu Thua districts achieved record yields, averaging 57-58 quintals/hectare. Many crops initially brought economic efficiency and contributed to the transformation of crops and livestock in the province such as corn, sesame, lotus, freshwater fish, etc.

Currently, the model Dong Thap Muoi region accounts for more than 80% of the province's food output, becoming a large rice granary. This is the result of synchronous investment in infrastructure serving production, expanding the planting area of high-quality rice varieties, applying mechanization, science and technology to production.

Promoting the application of high technology in production

Implementing the Program for Developing High-Tech Agriculture in conjunction with restructuring the agricultural sector in the 2016-2020 and 2021-2025 periods, the provincial agricultural sector has developed a plan and specified the program in a direction suitable to the conditions of each locality.

After the implementation period, the program has achieved many positive results. For rice, by March 2025, the whole province had 63,988.2 hectares of High-Tech rice, reaching 106.6% of the plan by 2025. Farmers participating in the model reduced production costs compared to outside the model by an average of 0.2-4.3 million VND/hectare. The average yield in the model is equal to or higher than outside the model by 400kg/hectare, the average profit in the models increased by 0.1-4.9 million VND/hectare.

At the same time, the whole province has 2,148.46 hectares of High-Tech vegetables, reaching 107.4% of the plan for the 2021-2025 period; 5,849 hectares of High-Tech dragon fruit, reaching 97.5% of the plan for the 2021-2025 period; 4,114 hectares of High-Tech lemon, reaching 137% of the plan; 98.84 hectares of High-Tech shrimp, reaching 98.84% of the plan; implementing the construction of 5 pilot models for beef cattle farming, supporting artificial insemination of high-quality breeds for more than 18,000 breeding cows; etc.

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment - Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh, restructuring helps the agricultural sector gradually shift towards increasing added value and sustainable development.

Specifically, farmers are increasingly proactive in converting from traditional crops with low economic efficiency to fruit trees with high economic value such as durian, jackfruit, grapefruit, orange, etc.

Along with that, standardizing production processes to achieve safety certifications, VietGAP, GlobalGAP, etc. to meet the requirements of the import market is also of particular interest to farmers. Up to now, the whole province has 318 growing area codes and 17 packing facility codes serving the export of agricultural products to markets such as Korea, Japan, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and the Netherlands.

“The provincial agricultural sector continues to invest in building and developing a synchronous and modern irrigation system to serve production; focusing on developing the collective economy in a practical and effective manner;  At the same time, promoting high-quality rice production, developing high-tech agricultural production associated with restructuring the agricultural sector and the Sustainable Development Project of 1 million hectares of high-quality rice cultivation associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta in the province to increase profits for farmers and improve the living environment” - Ms. Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh said./.

Reported by Bui Tung

Translated by NT