According to the strategy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will focus on developing new high-yield rice strains at two granaries - the Mekong delta in the south and the Red river delta in the north to meet this target.

As of the start of this year, Vietnam has 4.1 million ha of land planted with rice, including 3.1 million ha of wet rice paddies.

Coffee production is the second priority outlined in the strategy with the MARD aiming to harvest as many as 1.1 million tonnes of coffee beans annually by 2020 whilst maintaining the total coffee-growing acreage at around 500,000 ha.

To reach the projected target, the MARD plans to invest about VND33 trillion in strains, harvesting and processing techniques, and to fund a promotional campaign aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the staple.

The MARD has also given development priority to such hard currency earners for Vietnam as rubber, cashew, tea and pepper.

Taking into account different areas’ strengths and potential, the MARD plans to promote the growing of grain crops and fruit trees in the northwestern region and short-term industrial crops and rice in the northeastern region.

In the past nine months, farm produce has made a significant contribution to the country’s export earnings, with rice contributing US$2.4 billion, coffee US$1.6 billion, rubber US$1.2 billion, pepper US$255 million, and cashew nuts US$696 million.