Ensuring Food Security

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Keeping rice production by increasing productivity

According to Dong Nai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), in 2019, the cultivated rice area in the province will reach nearly 60 thousand hectares, down nearly 12.7 thousand hectares (down 18% compared to 2009). However, thanks to the application of technical advances and the use of new varieties, the yield of rice increased by 20%; rice output reached nearly 325 thousand tons, not much change compared to 2009.

There are currently 130 irrigation works in service of the whole province for agricultural production, but only meeting more than 20,000 ha, accounting for more than 10% of the total agricultural land area that needs irrigation. Agricultural production of Dong Nai in the dry season this year is also very difficult because of the low irrigated area; Especially, saline intrusion is high in Long Thanh and Nhon Trach districts.

Coping with the risk of drought and salinity, the Provincial People's Committee has issued a Directive on the implementation of urgent solutions to prevent and combat drought, saltwater intrusion and lack of domestic water in the dry season 2019-2020. The Directive asked districts, Long Khanh City and Bien Hoa City to inspect and closely monitor the situation of weather and water sources, assess the capacity of water supply for production and people's livelihood in the area. table; Review, adjust and supplement the plan to prevent and combat drought, saltwater intrusion, supply water for production and livelihoods in the dry season 2019-2020; Localities must continue to adjust the season, appropriate crop structure; Comply with recommendations of specialized agencies related to the season and production organization to limit the risk of damage.

Proactively combating drought and salinity, right from the end of 2019, Dong Nai has implemented crop changes and appropriate crop arrangement; especially reviewing and upgrading irrigation systems. In particular, the whole province has expanded the saving irrigation area with about 56 thousand hectares. As a result, in the winter-spring crop of 2019-2020, Dong Nai has a good harvest of both rice and upland crops. Particularly for rice with an area of about 15 thousand hectares, the rice yield reached 6.2 tons/ha, an increase of about 6 quintals/ha compared to the same period last year.

Effective crop conversion

 Trang Bom pomelo: Fruit trees are Dong Nai's strong point of development in crop restructuring. Photo: Pomelo garden in Tay Hoa commune, Trang Bom district. Taken by Phan Anh

According to Deputy Director of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Sub-Department - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development - Mr. Dinh Viet Tu, in 2019, the whole country has converted over 100,000 hectares of inefficient rice cultivation into aquaculture, fruit trees, and crops... with many times the profit. In the winter-spring crop of 2019-2020, provinces in the Southern region have also converted nearly 41.6 thousand hectares of rice land to annual crops, fruit trees and aquaculture. In particular, the South has 14 types of fruit trees with an area of over 10 thousand hectares, mainly for export markets, including mangoes, bananas, durian, dragon fruit, grapefruit, orange, rambutan, jackfruit, etc. Some provinces and cities have established large-scale fruit tree growing areas, providing safe production for export markets.

According to Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Huynh Thanh Vinh, Dong Nai's strength is fruit trees and industrial crops. The province currently has over 63.7 thousand hectares of fruit trees, an increase of nearly 9.6% over the same period. In particular, the new planted area is more than 8.3 thousand hectares. The total output of fruits harvested in 2019 reached over 608 thousand tons, an increase of nearly 7.5% over the same period. In particular, there are many types of fruit trees with large area in the top of the country, such as bananas, mangoes, rambutan, durian, etc. The province is very interested in implementing the allocation of planting area codes for fruit trees and industrial crops to meet the requirements of the export market.

By Phan Anh