Controversial new hybrid rice variety planted in Long An 

Truong Quoc Anh, Deputy Head of Biotechnology Office under the Southern Science and Technology Institute and Tran Minh Nhu from Northern Crop Plant Variety JSC admitted that they have rented 1.4 hectares of farm land to pilot a new rice variety.

They rented one hectare from Nguyen Van Ben from Hamlet 1 of Chau Thanh District’s Hoa Phu Commune and 0.4 hectare of land from another local farmer Tran Thi That at VND30 million (USD1,434) per hectare per month from January to April 2013.

Anh and Nhu co-operated with Liu Wen Jiang, an expert from China’s Sichuan University who also works for the Trong Tin Agricultural Service Company to use the land to conduct a project on producing hybrid rice varieties for northern Vietnam. The project was under a contract between Anh and Trong Tin Agricultural Service Company headquartered at No. 39 Son Tay in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh District.

Le Minh Duc, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural said the agency investigated the situation on February 18.

They found that two copies of the land lease contracts had been issued without certification from local authorities. Nhu kept all the contracts and Ben held none of the documents.

Nhu hired Ben to do ploughing and other preparation processes. Ben also applied the fertilizer, sprayed pesticides and planted the rice. When the rice sprouted, a Chinese man came to provide technical guidance to workers.

According to Anh, the rice variety had already named in the list of crop plants allowed for production, trading and usage in Vietnam.

Nhu represented Anh to sign land rental contracts with Ben and That. He was also responsible for hiring farm workers.

Anh explained that due to complicated cultivation process, they had invited Liu Wen Jiang to provide consultancy.

Anh was forced to admit he was wrong to plant a Chinese hybrid rice variety in Hoa Phu Commune and using foreign expert without reporting to local authorities.

He explained he had not bothered applying for approval from the local authorities as the project was just at a pilot stage and small in scope. He intended to seek approval when conducting the research over larger areas.

According to him, the rice variety had proved vulnerable to insects but an insect-resistant gene developed by Sichuan University had been implemented and Jiang was an expert who conducted the project.

Le Minh Duc, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Devleopment requested Anh to give up documents on the rice variety and the contract to hire foreign expert but he had yet to respond to the demand.

Who is the real initiator?

Dr. cum Prof. Vo Tong Xuan said hybrid rice was suitable for Vietnam’s northern region as it had very similar weather to neighbouring China.

“Even though the variety give a higher output of from 5%-10%, it is vulnerable to insects and forces farmers to depend on seed rice providers as products from the F2 generation are just for consumption, not for new crops,” he commented.

Nguyen Thi Dam, head of Chau Thanh District Office of Agriculture and Rural Development said the piloting of such a new rice variety could cause negative effects to local rice production as it could cross breed with local rice, resulting in bad results.

Ben said that as he could not speak Chinese, he communicated with Jiang in English and Vietnamese.

“Even though Nhu was represented in the contract, Jiang was the person who paid the land and worker costs,” Ben noted.

Both Jiang and Nhu affirmed that Jiang was the real investor of the hybrid rice project.

Violation

Pham Dong Quang, Deputy Director of the Cultivation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said they had required local authorities to make a report on the case.

“Under the current regulations, new crop plant varieties that are piloted in Vietnam must have an import license. Four types of crop plants including rice, maize, peanut and soya beans must get a license for national experiment before being piloted in a locality,” Quang said.

This means that the piloting of a new rice variety in Long An was illegal and could face a fine of around VND30 million (USD1,434).

In some cases, foreign crop plants that were imported into Vietnam and were not on the country’s list of crop plants allowed for production, trading and usage may be taken out of the country or re-exported to the original country, he added.

Le Minh Duc said his agency will manage the new rice variety area in Long An and take a ripened rice sample for tests to determine whether it is a genetically-modified variety and named in the country’s licensed crop plant list.

They will come to the final decision on the fine for Anh and Nhu for conducting their project this week.