Farmers in Viet Nam cut down cotton and started growin grice

Tag : Cotton Textile Materials

The plan, developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and VietNam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), will requireVND3.6 trillion (US$215 million) to provide solutions for VietNams severe shortage of cotton which is affecting the textile andgarment industry.
Land allocated to cotton cultivation has been sharply reduced inrecent years.
The 2003-04 cotton crop was the countrys largest, with 31,187haallocated to growing the crop. By 2007-08 the cotton farm area wasreduced to less than 7,000ha, and output was only 2,600 tonnes offibre. This met only 2 per cent of the domestic textile and garmentindustrys needs.
Economists predict that with current conditions cotton will nolonger be grown in the country by 2010.
Farmers have stopped growing cotton, because more money can begained from other crops such as maize, potato, cassava, beans,chilli and tobacco.
The central highlands province of Dak Lak in 2002, for example, had16,000ha of cotton which was gradually reduced to less than 100hathis year.
Local farmers calculated that they could earn a profit of VND3million ($179) from each hectare of cotton. If they grow maize,however, they could earn a profit of VND10 million ($598) perhectare.
In many localities, farmers cut down cotton and started growingrice, corn and cassava. Only a few provinces still plant cottonincluding Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Binh Thuan and Dong Nai.
Cotton companies raised their buying prices from VND7,000 per kiloto VND9,000 per kilo this year, as they realised without economicincentives cotton growing will be eradicated. However, it is fearedthis will not be enough.
The Government had originally estimated that from 2001 to 2010, thecountry would grow about 150,000ha of cotton to produce a 80,000tonne harvest, which would meet the demand for 50 per cent oftextile and garment industry. This clearly did not come to pass. Inthe meantime, the textile and garment sector has grown and needs200,000 tonnes of cotton fibre per year.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country nowhas to import nearly 100 per cent of cotton to fit its needs.
Solutions
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai says, the textile and garmentsector will continue playing a crucial role in industrialdevelopment until 2025.
"The sector now faces many severe challenges, mostly becauseof a lack of investment in textile and dyeing industries, as wellas cloth production, so it hardly has enough materials forproduction. The sector depends too much on imported materials, soits added value was low. Low labour productivity also weakenscompetitiveness of the sectors products," says Hai.
In the new plan to develop the textile and garment industry by2015, the Government has set a target to produce 1 billion sq.m ofcloth to serve exports.
40,000ha of land will be designated in 13 localities in the centralhighlands and southern area of Central Viet Nam to grow cotton by2020.
The programme needs large investments to compensate for siteclearance, irrigation systems, vehicles and saplings.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu said the textileand garment sector would ask the Government to set up eightindustrial zones for dyeing and textiles in Hung Yen, Nam Dinh,Thai Binh, Ninh Binh, Da Nang, Long An, Nha Trang and Binh Thuanfrom 2008 to 2012. In the next stage, from 2012 to 2015, otherindustrial zones will be built in Nghe An, Quang Tri, Tien Giangand Tra Vinh provinces.  VNS