Scattered, small-sized land lots hamper farmers and stop companies from investing in agriculture, while barriers set by land accumulation policies also marginalise farmers and hinder the development of Vietnam’s agriculture.

These warnings were voiced by experts at the Vietnam Autumn Agricultural Forum 2019 – the largest gathering of researchers and policy-makers to discuss the impact of land policies on agriculture hosted by Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR).

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Provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta have set to develop  high-quality agriculture combined with eco-tourism, services and industry as their ambitious targets this year. Located in a key economic region, with advantages in tourism, aquaculture and rice production, Kien Giang province, for instance, achieved an economic growth rate of 7.5 percent last year.

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The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, along with local governments in the Mekong Delta, have continued to voice support for construction of the Cai Lon-Cai Be irrigation project, though one expert has raised questions about the plans.

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Markets play a key role in the success of high-tech agriculture in the Mekong Delta, as explained during a seminar on high-tech solutions for agriculture in the Mekong Delta held in Can Tho City on July 13.

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Senior agriculture officials from the six member countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) agreed to increase regional cooperation in food safety, boost the trading of climate-friendly agriculture products, and accelerate the implementation of the five-year GMS Strategy and Siem Reap Action Plan endorsed by the Second GMS Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting.

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The price of sugarcane has fallen from 700-800 VND a kilogramme at the beginning of the harvest season last October to 500-550 VND now, but there are still few buyers.

In Cu Lao Dung district, sugarcane on many fields has become over-mature but their owners cannot find buyers. So far farmers in the district have managed to sell only 3,000ha out of 6,300ha of the crop, according to the local Division of Agriculture and Rural Development. With their cost being 50-60 million VND (2,200 – 2,600 USD) per hectare, many farmers face a loss of a sixth to 40 percent.

In Tra Vinh province, authorities have warned farmers not to harvest their sugarcane en masse because the Tra Vinh Sugarcane One Member Limited Company can process only around 2,500 tonnes a day.

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The Việt Nam-Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project (VnSAT) in the Mekong Delta has helped raise farm profits by 14 per cent after two years of implementation, according to Đặng Minh Cường, the project’s deputy head.

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India and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) nations on Friday agreed to jointly work to mitigate the challenges of climate change, enhance livelihood opportunities through agro- forestry, exchange farm machineries and develop heterotic rice hybrids.

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China sees an imbalance in the agriculture development among the six countries in the Mekong basin and would push for utilisation of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) scheme to unlock its potential, a Chinese senior official said.

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The Mekong Business Initiative (MBI) launched a new startup accelerator programme aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of the agriculture sector in the Mekong region, with specific focuses on international companies eyeing expansion and early-stage local agritech startups, the head of the initiative said yesterday.

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