The government of Vietnam considers its food security as a main issue in both short-term and long-term, the Saigon Giai Phong newspaper reported Dec. 24, citing Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. In the Decree No 63/NQ-CP issued Dec 23 on ensuring national food security, the PM urges to organize an effective system of rice purchase, sale and reserve in regions nationwide. He also asked for balancing domestic rice demand and supply, and export while ensuring profit for rice growers. The decree targets to ensure enough food for the domestic consumption by 2020 and with a vision to 2030 and at least 30% profit for rice growers. The decree also sets target to stop food shortage in 2012 and raise food producers’ income by 2.5 times in 2020. To meet the targets, Vietnamese government plans to keep paddy area at 3.8 million hectares by 2020. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development predicted that Vietnam’s population will hit 100 million in 2020, and 120 million in 2030, but the country’s rice cultivation acreage has decreased. The country is forecast to need 47 million tons of food in 2010 (up by 3.3 million from 2007), including 31.1 million tons of rice, up by nearly 2 million tons from 2007. The figure will rise to 50.3 million tons and 32.1 million tons, respectively, in 2015.
