The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has held a conferenceto gather opinions on the development of large-scale rice fields andlinks between agricultural production and distribution.

At the event, organised on March 31 in the Mekong Delta provinceof Dong Thap, representatives of many rice hub provinces like KienGiang, An Giang, Long An, Dong Thap and Tien Giang proposed thatlarge-scale paddy fields should be suitable to each region and locality,not limited to 300-500 hectares as previously defined.

It is necessary to consider areas that see high rice productivity andquality rice in each locality during the building of large-scale paddyfields, while focusing on increasing the signing of trade agreementsbetween farmers and businesses to shape a competitive rice value chain,they said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Agricultureand Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said sales of rice harvestedin large-scale paddy fields should be directly agreed by farmers andenterprises, and authorised agencies should help them with theformalities.

For the 2013-2014 winter-spring crop,as many as 65 out of 97 local businesses in Mekong Delta localities havejoined the large-scale rice fields and connectivity model with a totalarea of more than 54,000 hectares and a total output of 356,000 tonnes.-VNA