The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has been directinglocalities to build plans to convert rice cultivation to other crops orin combination with aquatic breeding, as well as to improve irrigationsystems, said Minister Cao Duc Phat.

He addedthat the ministry has proposed the Government continue to implement thePrime Minister’s Decision 580/QD-TTg, under which farmers will receivesupport to buy seedlings when switching from rice to other food crops,while expanding the support to the cultivation of other plants in thenorthern mountainous and midland, north central, Mekong Delta, southcentral coastal and Central Highland regions.

Nearly 700,000-800,000 hectares of ineffective rice cultivation areexpected to be replaced with other crops by 2020, he noted.

The Mekong Delta in particular has grown maize soybean, sesame, sweetpotatoes and vegetables on 53,800 hectares of former rice fields,thanks to seed assistance policies. Provinces in the region plan toconvert 80,000 more hectares of rice fields to other crops in 2015.

Some 17,150 hectares of paddy fields in northern provinces have alsobeen shifted to other plants. Effective models have helped raise farmerincomes 5-10 times compared to growing rice.

Thesouth central coastal and Central Highland provinces planted othercrops on 10,276 hectares of paddy fields with profits increasing 1.5-3times from their rice outputs.

Converting fromrice to drought-tolerant crops is increasingly relevant given theongoing drought in south central coastal Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan, KhanhHoa and Quang Tri provinces is making it impossible for farmers to growrice on over 50,000 hectares of land.

MinisterCao Duc Phat confirmed that his ministry will further coordinate withlocalities and the Ministry of Finance to deal with local concerns withsupporting capital resources.-VNA