Reuters-Indochina rice production s

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Subject: Reuters-Indochina rice production still has room to grow

Indochina rice production still has room to grow
03:20 a.m. Mar 01, 1999 Eastern
HANOI, March 1 (Reuters) - Rice production in Indochina and Myanmar has
potential to expand although governments need to be aware of the economic
and environmental costs, a researcher said on Monday.
Mercedita Sombilla from the International Rice Research Institute in the
Philippines said future production growth would depend mainly on yield
increases as opposed to expanding areas for farming in Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia and Myanmar.
Average yields ranged from 1.5 tonnes per hectare in Cambodia to 3.4 tonnes
in Vietnam, Sombilla said in a speech to be delivered at a two-day
conference on food security in Indochina which opened in Hanoi on Monday.
``Such great yield variations exist within the countries themselves. This
suggests that significant rice production increases could already be
achieved by just a reduction of the existing yield gaps,'' she said.
There was scope for limited area expansion in Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos,
Sombilla said, adding that this would be difficult for Vietnam because it
had the lowest arable land per capita of the four countries.
Land area used to cultivate rice in Cambodia and Laos was still less than in
the 1960s, partly because of the lack of security and the presence of
landmines, Sombilla said.
But competition for land between agriculture and industry was expected to
grow while population pressures would divert land into residential use.
Environmental concerns also needed to be addressed by governments, Sombilla
said.
She said high-yielding rice varieties that could thrive in the adverse
environments of Cambodia, Myanmar or Vietnam's northern Red River Delta
should be developed.
As the world market becomes saturated with low quality rice, countries in
the region needed to diversify into exporting high-grade grain, Sombilla
added.
Vietnam is one of the world's top rice exporters and expects to ship 3.9
million tonnes of mainly lower grade grain this year, up from around 3.8
million tonnes last year.