The Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang has approved a ten-year plan toexpand its large-scale rice field area to 29,010 hectares by 2025 witheach field covering 300-1,000 hectares.

Thelarge-scale field is a centralised production model that utilisescoordination among farmers, businesses, scientists, and State agenciesto facilitate the application of technology in cultivation, improvingthe value of agricultural products and farmer income.

To realise the objective, Soc Trang plans to spend 1.3 trillion VND(61.9 million USD) sourced from the State and local budgets and farmerinvestments.

It aims to put 90 percent of the ricearea and output under contract with cultivation material suppliers andrice buyers. Additionally, more than 90 percent of harvest andpost-harvest steps are set to be mechanised by 2025.

Under the plan, farmers will be given technical training and usecertified seeds while working to reduce the high volume of seeds plantedand limit the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers, the amount ofirrigation water, and post-harvest losses.

Thelarge-scale field model in Soc Trang, currently covering more than10,000 hectares of land, has cut down production expenses by 12 percent,and raised productivity by 5-7 percent and profit by 20 percentcompared to traditional planting methods.

The areaof high-quality rice fields in Soc Trang exceeded 110,000 hectares,accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total rice growing area.

To support the improvement of rice quality and large-scale fieldexpansion, the province has assisted local farmers to buy 250 combineharvesters (valued at around 500 million VND or 23,800 USD each),bringing the number of these machines to over 600.

The application of combines has lowered rice losses by 27,400 tonnesworth 137 billion VND (6.5 million USD) and labour costs by 200 billionVND (9.5 million USD).-VNA