Minister Le Minh Hoan: Rice growers have the lowest income

Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga questioned Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan.

On August 15, the National Assembly Standing Committee conducted a question-and-answer session at the 25th meeting on groups of issues under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Attending the question-and-answer session at the Hai Duong Provincial National Assembly Delegation bridge were comrades Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich, member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Thi Viet Nga, Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation and National Assembly deputies of Hai Duong province, along with leaders of a number of departments and branches.

“Vietnam is the world’s leading rice exporter, but rice farmers are still poor, meaning that rice does not bring significant profits to producers. So what is the cause of this paradox and what immediate and long-term solutions does the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development have to improve this situation?”, delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga asked.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that according to statistics, agriculture is the sector with the lowest income among the economic sectors and within agriculture, rice farmers have the lowest income. Currently, the daily increase in rice prices is a great opportunity to improve farmers' income. However, Minister Le Minh Hoan is worried that further increases in rice prices could cause disruption to the sector and lack sustainability.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan answers questions. Photo: National Assembly Electronic Information Portal

According to Minister Le Minh Hoan, ensuring income for farmers is a matter of great concern to the ministry. Improving income is not just a matter of price, but also needs to take into account costs. Rice production has reduced input costs by 20-25%, saving land, water, fertilizer, seeds, and pesticides, helping to increase people's income. Farmers who grow only enjoy income from that product is not effective, but need to shift from single-value growth to integrated, multi-value growth, creating many other industries. Space and time for rice cultivation can be integrated, such as rice cultivation combined with shrimp and fish farming, not just rice cultivation and rice sales. Thereby, farmers have many other sources of income besides rice.

Regarding solutions, Minister Le Minh Hoan said that it is necessary to unite in cooperatives to have preferential prices, increase profits, and encourage people to join cooperatives, buy together, sell together, and enjoy common services to have income from many different segments, avoiding fragmentation, small-scale, and spontaneous activities.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga also questioned Minister Le Minh Hoan about solutions when Vietnamese agricultural products have been exported to many countries but still depend heavily on the Chinese market and are often congested at border gates. Minister Le Minh Hoan has not answered this question.

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