On 9th March, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) announced the project on infrastructure and technical support for low emission rice production in the Mekong Delta. This has been developed based on Viet Nam’s initiative on one million hectares specialising in high-quality, low emission rice cultivation officially launched in late 2023. The project led by MARD is expected to cover 12 provinces in the Mekong Delta over a five-year period from 2026 to 2031. Out of a total of 375 million US dollar in investment, 360 million dollars is sourced from a loan of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) of the World Bank and 15 million dollars secured from government and provincial authorities.
Six areas that together form the project include: (i) designing a comprehensive and smart investment package to farmers to adapt with climate change and increase farm profitability, (ii) supporting production of small household by strengthening farmers community and local cooperative, (iii) mobilising source of capital secured on carbon credits for regions that apply low-carbon practices, (iv) encouraging the participation of private sector, (v) supporting the development of low emission rice market, (vi) creating legal framework and technical guideline.
Key objective of the project focuses on the production of high quality, low emission rice across provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta and will be evaluated through the results of productivity, rice quantity, farmer income, carbon emissions reduction and carbon credits payment. The project enfolds three core components: (i) develop value chain of high quality and low carbon rice production, (ii) enhance technical transfer and (iii) project management.
Tran Thanh Nam, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development mentioned four focuses of this project including irrigation system, inter-regional traffic connections, logistics and synchronous mechanization. He also called for the immediate and engaged actions of 12 provinces during the preparation phases over the period of 2024 – 2025. The investment fund is expected to be approved by May 2025.
Tran Thanh Nam, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development delivered his speech about the project in Can Tho City on 19 March 2024. ©Chi Quoc / Tuoi Tre