With an annual production of about 25 million tonnes, accounting for 55
percent of the country’s total rice production, the Mekong Delta has
become the largest rice granary in the country, said the Communist Party
of Vietnam (CPV) Online Newspaper.
However, post-harvest losses
are still high and this has resulted in poor improvement of farmers’
living standards. It is necessary to apply modern technology to improve
the quality of rice and minimize post-harvest losses, said the
newspaper.
According to Dr. Pham Van Tan, from the Vietnam Institute
of Agricultural Engineering Post-Harvest Technology (SIAEP), the
rice supply chain consists of a logical technological process in the
following stages: breeding, cultivation (planting and care), harvesting,
drying, storage, husking, processing and consumption.
In the
chain of the process, the quality of product does not only depend on the
quality of the technology applied during that stage, but also depends
on the quality of the technology at every previous stage.
Development
of the rice supply chain in the Mekong Delta, has shown that the
purpose of the preservation is to ensure the quality of rice. Most
farmers in the Mekong Delta can only afford to preserve rice seed for
next crop and harvested rice for family consumption.
If they
cannot sell rice immediately after preliminary drying, due to too low
market prices farmers often temporarily store rice in PP bags or jute
bags of 30 – 50kg. They pile them anywhere available and cover them with
canvas to protect them from the rain and frogs between one and two
weeks at best and several months at worst. This method of storage, for
any period, reduces the quality of rice and cause economic losses.
In
recent years, drying rice by machine after harvest has developed
significantly in the Delta, accounting for about 47 percent of the crop
compared to the demand.
To reduce the post harvest losses,
the drying and preservation of rice are two key steps that need to be
standardized throughout the Mekong delta in an effort to improve
farmers’ living standards in the region.-VNA