Crops with high economic benefits and stable markets prefered for winter crop production

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on September 8 organised an online meeting to evaluate production results of the winter crop 2020 and launch a production plan for the winter crop 2021 in northern provinces.

According to the ministry’s Department of Crop Production, in the winter crop 2020, the cultivation area was 375,000 ha, a decrease of 13,300 ha compared with that of 2019 due to the 7th storm that hit Vietnam last October. The areas for growing corn, soya beans, sweet potato reduced most with the reduction of over 6,000 ha, 1,000 ha and more than 3,000 ha respectively.

Potato farming faced difficulties in seeding and high input costs, so the total potato growing area was reduced by over 2,000 ha. Meanwhile, total areas for vegetables and beans increased by more than 8,000 ha.

The winter crop 2020 produced more than VND 32.6 trillion with a productivity of more than VND 84 million per ha, marking an increase of VND 3.1 million per ha compared with that of 2019.

The increased production value was because of the changes in crops to grow. Instead of crops with low economic benefits like soya beans, peanut or sweet potato, farmers shifted to grow crops with higher economic benefits like herbal plants, fruits, corn, flowers and ornamental trees.

Besides growing crops in net houses, farms paid more attention to food processing to ensure food safety. As a result, farming products could be consumed steadily. Particularly, vegetables were sold at high prices from the beginning to the end of the winter crop 2020.

According to the Department of Crop Production, the crop winter 2021 will have a total cultivation area of about 400,000 ha with expected production of 4.6 million tonnes. Of that, 161,000 ha is in the Red River Delta, 140,000 ha in northern mountainous provinces and 105,000 ha in the north-central region.

The estimated production value of the winter crop 2021 is about VND 34-35 trillion or VND 85 million per ha. About 55 per cent of the cultivation areas are used for growing crops that prefer warm weather like corn, sweet potato and soya bean while the remaining 45 per cent will be used for crops that prefer cool weather like potato and bean vegetables.

Provinces will choose crops to grow and start the winter crop in 2021 after harvesting their summer-autumn rice crop.

The crop production department suggests growing crops with heat tolerance by October 10.

Growing crops with cold tolerance should start after October 10. The potato should be grown from October 25 to November 15.

Vegetables should be grown during the winter to ensure supply and avoid the oversupply in a particular time that possibly caused falling prices.