On December 19, in Can Tho City, the Business Forum newspaper organized a forum on "Building a sustainable agricultural ecosystem towards the goal of Net zero by 2050".

Here, Mr. Huynh Van Thon, Chairman of Loc Troi Group, gave comments and suggestions on the implementation of the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission specialized rice in the Mekong Delta.

Mr. Thon shared that the policies built to implement the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality specialized rice are "ideal", but have almost not been applied and the participants have hardly benefited from it.

Mr. Thon cited that when the group saw the project of 1 million hectares specializing in high-quality rice, it was very happy, but now it is "gradually collapsing" because this project lacks synchronous management, lacks policies, and lacks support, which he compared to "an ecosystem that is as disjointed as cold rice, not connected together".

"I have two suggestions. The first is to divide the work so that each side can do it, including businesses, farmers, policy makers, and the leadership and direction of the state.

Second, in terms of policy, farmers only need to borrow capital with an interest rate of 4.5-5%, and next is the need for quick and easy access. Simply put, farmers need as much as they need," he said.

According to Mr. Thon, the 1 million hectare project is an ecosystem in which the state plays a connecting role, so in each province, if the chairman of the provincial People's Committee acts as the "commander", the management will be very good.

Mr. Le Van Han, Chairman of Tra Vinh Provincial People's Committee, also said that the province's recent pilot model implementing the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality rice at two cooperatives Phuoc Hao and Phat Tai, showed that it helped farmers reduce production costs by 3.5 - 4 million VND/ha; increase productivity by about 5-6%; increase profits by 20 - 25%; reduce emissions by 30-40% compared to outside the pilot model.

However, Mr. Han also acknowledged that there are still many difficulties and obstacles that need to be resolved, including limited access to capital. Many models are only applied in some stages, so the production chain is not synchronized, the initial investment capital is large, the capital recovery period is long and the price of agricultural products fluctuates, leading to farmers being hesitant and having difficulty replicating.