The buzz around low-emission rice

Concerns over rice production costs

The corner of a 96-page student notebook had been folded over. Across its blue-ruled pages, now faded with ink, were meticulously recorded expenses for a single rice crop: VND 160,000 for plowing, VND 160,000 for harvesting, VND 300,000 for fertilizer, VND 400,000 for transplanting and direct seeding, VND 70,000 for snail control, VND 50,000 for weed control, and VND 35,000 for rodent control - not including labor costs.

At the bottom of the page, Mr. Luong Van Han had circled the total production cost: more than VND 1.7 million per sao rice field (local measurement, 1 sao = 360 m²). Beneath it was a simple revenue calculation: 200 kilograms × VND 7,200/kg = VND 1.4 million.

Sitting in his modest single-storey house in Nua Village, Long Hung Commune, Hung Yen Province, Mr. Han ran his weathered fingers over the figures once again. He has kept this notebook for years, recording production costs through periods when a bag of fertilizer cost just over VND 100,000 and later nearly doubled in price, and from a time when hiring workers for rice transplanting was relatively inexpensive to today’s rates of VND 400,000-500,000/workday.

He said that rice farmers in the area no longer talk much about profit margins as they once did. "Nowadays, we mainly grow rice for our own consumption. If you have to hire labor for every stage of production, you're bound to lose money," he reflected.

Long Hung is a low-lying area. In recent years, many rice fields have suffered crop losses due to waterlogging and flooding. A growing number of households have abandoned rice cultivation altogether, choosing instead to work in factories or lease out their land. Fields that were once bustling with activity now contain numerous idle plots. Those who continue farming are mostly elderly residents, tending their fields during the cooler hours of early morning or late afternoon. If this trend continues, few people may remain committed to rice cultivation in the future.

A glimmer of hope emerged during this year’s spring crop, when Nua Village joined a low-emission rice production model for the first time, supported by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) through the provision of machinery and technical assistance. The most significant changes were introduced in seeding and fertilizer application practices.

Instead of preparing the land manually and broadcasting seeds as in the past, the project’s machinery simultaneously levels the field, sows seeds in rows, and incorporates fertilizer into the soil. Farmers pay only about VND 60,000/sao for this service.

Under conventional practices, the combined cost of land leveling, seeding, and labor alone could reach approximately VND 400,000/sao.

"The traditional method is labor-intensive, costly, and less productive. Mechanization has significantly reduced labor requirements," Mr. Han said.

In the neatly arranged rice fields in front of his house, the plots participating in the low-emission model stand out clearly. The rice plants are evenly spaced, less densely planted, with stronger and more upright stems that are less prone to lodging.

"The machine places the seeds 3-5 centimeters below the surface and the fertilizer 5-7 centimeters deep, which reduces losses from evaporation and runoff. The plants develop stronger root systems and establish themselves more firmly," Mr. Han explained.

Under traditional cultivation practices in northern Viet Nam, farmers often sow seeds densely to ensure a reliable harvest. A single sao of land may require as much as 2-2.5kg of seed. With the project’s row-seeding machine, however, seed use has been reduced to around 1.5kg/sao.

Fertilizer application has also declined considerably. According to Mr. Han, fields outside the model typically require about 15 kilograms of fertilizer per sao, costing nearly VND 300,000 at current prices. Under the low-emission model, fertilizer use has been reduced to approximately 11-12 kg/sao.

Having grown up in what was once known as the rice heartland of Thai Binh Province, Mr. Han has seen numerous pilot agricultural models introduced to Long Hung over the years. Yet through those experiences, he has come to realize that what matters most to farmers is not necessarily concepts such as low-emission agriculture or carbon credits, but rather the amount of money they can save after each harvest.

Now in his seventies, Mr. Han calculates the economics quickly. With an average yield of around 200 kilograms of paddy rice per sao and current market prices ranging from VND 7,000 to 7,200/kg, gross revenue reaches only about VND 1.4-1.5 million/sao - less than the approximately VND 1.7 million required for production costs. However, when the three most labor-intensive operations are mechanized using equipment supported by IRRI at substantially lower costs, rice cultivation begins to generate a modest profit.

Visible results

Mr. Duong Van Si, Deputy Director of the Lien Hiep Agricultural Service Cooperative, which directly implemented the model across more than three hectares in Nua Village, acknowledged that the greatest challenge in northern Viet Nam is not technology but rather land fragmentation and labor constraints.

Farmland in Long Hung consists of small, scattered plots. Each household often grows a different rice variety and follows its own cultivation schedule. Since most families produce rice primarily for household consumption, there is limited incentive to standardize production practices.

"Some households prioritize rice quality, while others focus on yield. Convincing everyone to invest money and follow the same production model is extremely difficult," Mr. Si explained.

According to Mr. Si, the model can only operate effectively when there is an intermediary organization to coordinate key activities, from selecting rice varieties and scheduling seeding to managing machinery operations. The cooperative plays this coordinating role by consolidating land areas and connecting farmers with businesses and development projects. If individual households were left to implement the model independently, the costs would exceed what most farmers could afford.

This reality helps explain why many localities in northern Viet Nam are interested in adopting low-emission rice production but remain cautious about implementation. Unlike the Mekong Delta, where large-scale adoption is more feasible, northern farming areas face distinct challenges. Landholdings are generally smaller and more fragmented, mechanization levels are lower, the agricultural workforce is aging, and irrigation systems are more complex. Even field leveling, a prerequisite for applying alternate wetting and drying irrigation techniques, can be a significant obstacle.

In Long Hung, however, an even greater challenge in recent years has been waterlogging. Mr. Luong Van Han, head of Nua Village, said that substantial areas of rice fields have been lost during each of the past three cropping seasons due to inadequate drainage. In some locations, floodwaters have risen to the level of village concrete roads. "If drainage problems are not addressed, farmers will eventually abandon their fields," he warned.

For this reason, the transition to low-emission rice cultivation involves much more than simply reducing seed and fertilizer use. It requires a broader transformation of farming systems, including land consolidation, improved water management, greater mechanization, and stronger collective action among farmers.

During the most recent crop season, one of the results that impressed farmers most was the uniformity of the rice fields. Precision land leveling allowed water to be distributed more evenly across the fields, resulting in more synchronized crop development, more uniform ripening, and reduced lodging.

Mr. Si noted that many farmers were surprised by the results. In the past, each household followed its own cultivation practices, resulting in uneven fields with varying elevations and water depths. These conditions often led to excessive weed growth and inconsistent yields. When the entire field was planted at the same time and managed under a standardized production process, the improvements became immediately visible. Preliminary assessments showed that yields in the demonstration plots consistently reached and even exceeded 220-230kg/sao.

While the initial benefits are evident, both Mr. Han and Mr. Si remain thoughtful about the model’s long-term sustainability. At present, the project still relies heavily on external support, including machinery and technical assistance. A combined seeding and fertilizer-application machine costs hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong - far beyond the reach of most local farmers. Without financial support mechanisms or organizations capable of operating the equipment collectively, it would be difficult for individual households to make such investments. "If you want farmers to adopt the model, they need access to the machinery," Mr. Han said.

Mr. Si, meanwhile, believes that market access will be equally important. In his view, farmers will only be willing to adopt uniform production practices on a large scale if there is a recognized brand, a guaranteed buyer, or access to export markets. "Only when the entire production area grows the same variety under the same cultivation process can a true commercial production zone be established," he explained.

At present, most rice produced in Long Hung is still retained for household consumption or livestock feed, with only a small portion sold commercially. For farmers who have spent their lives working under the sun in the rice fields, simply reaching a point where rice cultivation no longer results in financial losses represents a significant change. They are particularly encouraged by the fact that operations such as transplanting, seeding, and fertilizer application, which previously cost several hundred thousand dong per sao, can now be completed for just VND 60,000/sao.

$ 1 = VND 26,408 - Source: Vietcombank.