Speaking at the event, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said: Rice production is a key production sector, not only helping to ensure national food security but also supporting the country's economic development as well as demonstrating Vietnam's responsibility in ensuring the international food system.

Vietnam is one of the largest rice producing and exporting countries in the world. The position of Vietnam's rice industry is being consolidated and enhanced more than ever: not only from impressive figures on output and export value in recent years, but also reflected in the positive feedback from world consumers about Vietnamese Rice. In particular, the Mekong Delta (MD) has always been one of the main rice producing regions of Vietnam. Rice production in the region in recent years has always been stable at 24-25 million tons, accounting for over 50% of rice production and over 90% of rice export of the whole country, creating jobs and income for millions of agricultural households in the region.

Mr. Le Minh Hoan emphasized that the three words "change" are increasingly having a stronger impact on agriculture, including the rice industry in the Mekong Delta: climate change, market fluctuations and changes in world consumption trends. Market requirements are increasingly high, regulations of importing countries are increasingly strict. That is, rice quality must be improved, food hygiene and safety must be ensured, and community responsibility must be followed in protecting the environment through minimizing the use of chemical inputs and reducing emissions. In addition, income for rice farmers must be increased on the same unit of production area.

At COP 26, the Prime Minister also signed a commitment to strive to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Thus, it can be seen that the Vietnamese rice industry is facing many challenges, difficulties and requires "transformation" - the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed.

It is from this context that the Project "Sustainable development of one million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice cultivation associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030" was approved and issued by the Government. The goal is to form one million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice cultivation associated with reorganizing the production system according to the value chain. The project focuses on piloting new policies such as: paying carbon credits based on results; focusing on low-emission production associated with green growth; developing the agricultural economy in a circular direction, making the most of by-products from rice production; exploiting multiple values, creating many processed products from rice... Successful pilots in the Mekong Delta will be expanded nationwide, aiming to make "Green development, emission reduction, high quality" a brand of Vietnamese rice.

From those new and breakthrough policies, the Project aims at the most important goal of creating livelihoods and orienting sustainable development for rice farmers - the subject and decisive factor for the success of agricultural and rural development.

Ms. Carolyn Turk - Country Director of the World Bank (WB) in Vietnam affirmed her commitment to accompany the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in developing a project to develop 1 million hectares of high-quality specialized rice. The project will effectively support farmers and Vietnam's agriculture, directly contributing to the economy as well as improving people's lives. The WB will also support Vietnam to quickly receive emission reduction results from the VnSAT rice project to mobilize carbon finance. In the long term, this can be a sustainable source of finance to continue agricultural development activities and create more income for farmers.

Dr. Cao Duc Phat, Chairman of the Board of Members of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), shared: The project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030 will simultaneously solve 3 major problems facing the world rice industry and Vietnam in particular. These are increasing rice production, increasing income for rice farmers, and adapting to and mitigating climate change.

As an international technical consultant for the Project, IRRI has recently collaborated with scientists to research and improve cultivation processes, improve tools for rice cultivation, and train staff for Vietnam. Most recently, it has collaborated to research rice cultivation processes, straw treatment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and techniques to monitor and measure greenhouse gas emissions from rice fields to facilitate the commercialization of rice products and carbon credits generated. In the coming time, IRRI will continue to improve rice cultivation processes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; techniques to monitor and measure greenhouse gas emissions; propose to improve related policies as well as train staff and farmers.

At the launching ceremony, there were also demonstrations of mechanized sowing technology and circular agricultural models from straw in Hamlet 4, Vi Trung Commune (Vi Thuy District, Hau Giang Province).