From the country's rice granary, An Giang is moving towards a modern agricultural center.

An Giang province is located at the headwaters of the Mekong River, with fertile land. After the merger, the province ranks first in the country in terms of area and rice output with great potential for development, with an annual rice output of about 8.8 million tons.

Promoting the potential and strengths of the locality, An Giang province focuses on developing large-scale agricultural economy , applying science, technology and modern, high-tech production processes, building agricultural product brands, improving quality and value to become one of the major agricultural hubs of the region.

An Giang people harvest rice and gather it onto trucks to transport it to the place of consumption. Photo: Thanh Sang/VNA

Large-scale agricultural economic development

Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of An Giang Province, Ngo Cong Thuc, said that after merging the two provinces (Kien Giang and An Giang), An Giang Province has the largest agricultural production area in the Mekong Delta and the whole country; about 1.3 million hectares of rice, with an output of more than 8.8 million tons/year. The province aims to develop large-scale agricultural economy, reduce emissions, apply high technology, reduce costs, increase value, and become the center of rice and freshwater aquaculture in the Mekong Delta.

The province focuses on promoting investment attraction in deep processing and refined processing industries associated with concentrated raw material areas to create a closed production chain, easy to trace origin, increase product value, build brands, meet strict standards of domestic consumers and exports. The province is completing industrial parks and industrial clusters to cover raw material areas serving production and processing to implement the orientation of agricultural economic development associated with refined and deep processing technology.

Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of An Giang Province, Ngo Cong Thuc, also said that An Giang not only supplies rice to the whole country but also exports rice in large quantities. To produce better quality products, the province participates in the project "Sustainable development of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice cultivation associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta" with the goal of reaching more than 351,000 hectares by 2030.

The province has deployed 55 demonstration models with a total area of ​​nearly 2,000 hectares with positive results, mobilizing the participation of subjects in the rice production chain. The model helps reduce costs by an average of 4.12 million VND/ha, increase productivity by 0.78 tons/ha, increase profits by 5 - 8 million VND/ha compared to the control, the model helps reduce emissions by 7.56 - 8.11 tons of CO2 equivalent/ha.

In addition to the achieved results, An Giang rice production still faces many difficulties due to the great impact of climate change, input costs for rice production are higher than the rate of increase in rice prices, leading to low profits for rice growers; there are not many highly effective technologies to help increase efficiency in rice production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; enterprises participating in rice production linkages have a modest area; rice production linkage chains in the province are not really sustainable.

Although the issue of building a brand for emission-reducing rice in the province has received attention recently, its implementation still faces many difficulties and shortcomings, especially in identifying leading enterprises to participate in and accompany the implementation of the province's rice branding strategy. An Giang needs strategic investors with financial and technological potential and high management skills to effectively exploit the potential, turning the advantages of An Giang's agricultural sector into large-scale, high-value projects.

The Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of An Giang province also said that in the coming time, the province will actively implement the Project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice cultivation; develop agricultural and rural infrastructure; direct the agricultural sector to promote its role as a "pillar" of the economy; focus on improving product quality to meet market demand.

At the same time, promote the application of technology in the production, processing and preservation of agricultural products; build brands for local agricultural products; develop the agricultural supply chain into a chain of products; focus on converting from small-scale, fragmented agricultural production to large-scale, concentrated commodity production, and form sustainable raw material areas.

Efficiency from high technology and engineering applications

In the recent Summer-Autumn crop of 2025, Thanh Xuan Agricultural Service Cooperative, Dinh Hoa commune, piloted a model of high-quality, low-emission rice production with an area of ​​50 hectares, with 11 farmer households participating. The pilot model applied sparse sowing density (70 kg/ha), reducing 50 kg of rice seeds compared to the traditional farming model; rice yield reached 6.67 tons/ha, 0.31 tons/ha higher than the control; total cost of rice production in the model was lower than the cost outside the model by more than 1.4 million VND/ha; the average profit of the demonstration model increased by 3.9 million VND/ha compared to outside the model.

Mr. Danh Thao, Deputy Director of Thanh Xuan Agricultural Service Cooperative, said that combining sparse sowing with cluster sowing and row sowing helps reduce seeds, while increasing the efficiency of fertilizer use, pest management, and water management effectively and economically. Thereby, it helps reduce the amount of pure nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus fertilizer by nearly 50 kg/ha compared to the control model field, equivalent to about 1.3 million VND. In addition, the model uses balanced fertilizers of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, trace elements and organic microbial fertilizers, thereby helping rice plants grow and develop well, limiting pests and diseases.

Mr. Danh Phuong, Chau Thanh commune shared that after more than 3 years of applying the high-quality rice production model according to VietGAP process, applying smart and economical farming methods as recommended by the agricultural sector. Accordingly, rice seeds are sparsely sown at about 60 kg/ha, organic fertilizer is combined with a little inorganic fertilizer to ensure rice growth. Farmers are invested in a pest detection and warning station, a smart water pumping station controlled via a phone app to help detect early pests that harm rice, save on fuel costs for pumping water, and effectively manage the amount of water just enough for rice to grow.

Currently, the pumping team has an area of ​​over 500 hectares. Farmers in the team are trained by the agricultural sector and transferred scientific and technical advances in cultivation such as how to select rice varieties, improve soil, manage water resources, the cultivation process of "3 reductions, 3 increases", "1 must, 5 reductions", only spraying pesticides when necessary and following the principle of 4 rights; reducing irrigation water; reducing post-harvest losses...

"Thanks to production following VietGAP standards, the cooperative's rice is purchased by traders at a price about 200 VND/kg higher than the market price, less fertilizer and pesticides are used, helping to increase profits by more than 20 million VND/ha. In particular, smart farming methods help prevent rice from falling over during the rainy and stormy season, protecting productivity," Mr. Phuong shared.

Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of An Giang province Le Huu Toan said that implementing the 1 million hectare rice project, the initial steps have been to form a specialized area for high-quality and low-emission rice cultivation associated with the reorganization of the production system according to the value chain in the province in a more effective and systematic way. Cooperatives and people have effectively applied sustainable farming processes to increase value, increase income of rice growers, protect the environment, adapt to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Every year, the province produces about 100,000 hectares of rice that meets SRP, organic, GlobalGAP, VietGAP standards, and residue control, and is in the process of converting to organic production for export to the EU, US, and Japanese markets.

Mr. Le Huu Toan added that in the 2025 - 2030 term, the Department's Party Committee set a target of increasing the average value of agricultural, forestry and fishery production by 4%/year or more, and an average rice output of 8 million tons/year or more. The industry focuses on developing high-tech agriculture, comprehensive digital transformation in production, processing and consumption of agricultural products; building large-scale specialized agricultural production areas according to the value chain; developing raw material areas that meet VietGAP, GlobalGAP and SPR standards.

The province has expanded the area applying the “1 Must, 5 Reductions” model to over 60% of the cultivated area; strongly developed high-quality, fragrant, branded rice varieties; perfected the linkage chain from production to consumption, promoted the export of high-quality rice; developed cooperative models linked along the value chain and supported cooperatives in accessing capital, technology, and export markets.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/tu-vua-lua-ca-nuoc-an-giang-huong-toi-trung-tam-nong-nghiep-hien-dai-20251001081523457.htm