Hồ Quang Cua (middle) has won first prize in the 2020 Việt Nam Best Rice Contest. —VNS Photo Xuân Đăng

HCM CITY— After winning the prize for best rice in the world in 2019, ST25 fragrant rice won first prize in the 2020 Việt Nam Best Rice Contest yesterday.

The contest was organized by the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), Crops Department , and Nông Thôn Ngày Nay (Countryside Today) Newspaper.

The winner will represent Việt Nam in the 2020 World's Best Rice Contest this November.

Lê Thanh Tùng, deputy chairman of Crops Department, said at the contest that the organisers' desire was to promote high-quality rice varieties that can compete with other countries.

All rice products participating in the contest must be made in Việt Nam, be submitted for a national test for at least one crop, and have a minimum purity of 98 per cent.

The ST25 rice variety was developed by a group of Sóc Trăng-based agricultural engineers led by Hồ Quang Cua, former deputy director of Sóc Trăng Province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department.

Last year, his ST24 rice variety was crowned the best in the world at The Rice Trader World Rice Conference 2019 in the Philippines.

This was the first time that Vietnamese rice was awarded the title.

The TRT World Rice Conference is the largest annual gathering of commercial and professional rice industry participants in the world. — VNS