Da Nang rice seed project gains initial success
A project converting Hoa Tien commune in the central city of Da Nang into a rice seed production hub has reaped positive outcomes, it was declared in a conference examining the project’s performance on April 25.
The project has been carried out by the municipal People’s Committee and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) since November 2011.
It is funded with some US$500,000 by the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum Fund.
In three crops, it has tested 10 new rice varieties over nearly nine hectares, before selecting four which will be cultivated on a larger scale.
After each crop, the Agricultural Science Institute for the Southern Central Coast of Vietnam and the project managing unit instructed farmers how to grow new varieties, the conference heard.
FAO representative Jong Ha Bea said the project aims to raise rice producing and processing capacity in order to increase value.
In the next six months, FAO will help Hoa Tien extend the cultivation area so as to soon build a brand name for the rice hailing from the commune, he noted.
Meanwhile, in the short term, the project will work with the Department of Crop Cultivation, FAO and other relevant sides to complete a rice laboratory in Hoa Tien.