Farmers harvest summer-autumn rice in An Giang Province’s Ô Lâm Commune. – VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Sang

HCM CITY – The agricultural sector in the south has seen a strong performance this year, with higher rice yields and fruit harvests and better quality.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta and the Southeast are Việt Nam’s key areas for rice, fruits and several major industrial crops, Deputy Director of the Plant Protection and Cultivation Department Nguyễn Quốc Mạnh told a conference held in Đồng Tháp Province last week to review the region’s 2025 performance and unveil the winter–spring crop plans.

“Crop production in the early months of 2025, and for the year as a whole, has largely met targets.”

According to the department, the total area under rice in 2025 is 4.1 million hectares and output is around 26.12 million tonnes, meaning the average yield has risen marginally from 2024 to 6.34 tonnes per hectare.

The farming structure has shifted strongly towards high-quality, fragrant and speciality rice varieties.

There are more than 1.3 million hectares of fruit orchards this year and output is expected to rise by 4.7 per cent to 7.3 million tonnes.

Key fruits such as durian, mango, jackfruit, and orange all saw increases in both area and output.

Staggered crop production models are used increasingly, especially for five major fruits (dragon fruit, mango, rambutan, durian, and longan), on 43,000ha, or 50.7 per cent of their total area, to harvest 884,000 tonnes.

The southern region also grows cash crops on large areas, including 182,000ha of cashew, 21,500ha of coffee, 439,000ha of rubber, 34,000ha of pepper, and 179,000ha of coconut.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Hoàng Trung said this year’s production not only ensured food security and sustained rice exports but also stabilised farmers’ livelihoods amid market fluctuations and natural disasters.

However, he noted that the region still faces shortcomings such as weak value chain links and inconsistent management of growing area and packaging codes.

He urged localities to actively store freshwater, strengthen their irrigation systems and work closely with hydro-meteorological centres to update and share weather forecasts.

He also told them to expand staggered cropping, use water-efficient irrigation systems and protect the environment.

Winter–spring crop plan

The southern region plans to grow rice on 1.59 million hectares in the 2025–26 winter–spring crop, producing 11.51 million tonnes.

The crop will focus on high-quality, fragrant and speciality varieties with concentrated growing areas and production linkages between stakeholders.

The area under fruits will remain largely stable, with localities adjusting schedules to avoid oversupply in winter–spring 2025–26.

This is the peak season for many major fruits. Harvesting must be scheduled carefully to prevent bottlenecks, according to the Plant Protection and Cultivation Department.

For vegetables, the ministry encourages appropriate expansion, focusing on crops for the Tết (Lunar New Year) festival, closely monitoring weather, managing water supply, scheduling to avoid pests, and mitigating salinity in rivers.

Delegates at the conference agreed that winter–spring crop production must be safe, effective and market-oriented, and stressed the importance of seed quality and pest management.

Mai Văn Hào, deputy director of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said: “Seed quality is crucial, determining production costs and efficiency.

“Farmers should minimise, and ultimately eliminate, chemical pesticides to protect soil health and consumers.”

The Department of Agriculture and Environment of An Giang Province, the delta’s largest rice producer, proposed investing in infrastructure for the second phase of the project “Sustainable Development of One Million Hectares of High-Quality, Low-Emission Rice Associated with Green Growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030.”

It also recommended expanding “green and low-emission Vietnamese rice” certification and strengthening co-operatives through training.

Lê Hà Luân, director of the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment, said the ministry should issue regulations for growing area and packaging codes soon and advise the Government on penalising violations.

Trung said: “The ministry’s units must develop the 2025–26 winter–spring plan based on water resources and salinity risks.

“The ministry will step up checks on seeds, fertilisers and plant protection products, support the issuance of growing area and packaging codes, provide pest management training, disseminate technical advances, and negotiate to remove export barriers and expand markets.” – VNS