Low-emissions rice farming model launched in Ninh Bình

The launch is part of the national low-emissions crop production project for 2025 35 and the ‘Fertilise Right’ project funded by the US Department of Agriculture.

Ninh Binh province is a stable rice-producing locality in the Red River Delta, where co-operatives play a key role in organising production and transferring technical advances.

After administrative restructuring, the province’s total rice-growing area exceeds 25,000ha, creating favourable conditions for developing commodity agriculture and building specialty rice brands linked with green production.

The new cultivation model, launched at Nam Cuong Co-operative, will be implemented on 2.5 hectares of agricultural land using the Thiên Ưu 8 rice variety, with a seeding rate of about 45kg per hectare. It focuses on mechanised row seeding combined with fertiliser placement by machine, modern fertilising principles, alternate wetting and drying water management and integrated pest management.

Proper seeding density and accurate fertiliser placement at sowing will help reduce seed use, cut down fertiliser applications and save irrigation water and labour costs. More importantly, the process contributes to reducing emissions in rice production, one of the sector’s major emissions sources.

This new farming model is expected to help refine low-emissions rice cultivation processes customised to local conditions in the Red River Delta. Technical solutions will be tested and objectively evaluated during implementation to prepare for a scale-up.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Nguyen Quoc Manh, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection said: “The implementation of this model is not only a matter of technical transfer, but also a concrete step in realising the low-emissions crop production project to 2035.”

Under the project’s targets, emissions from the crop sector are expected to be reduced by at least 15 per cent by 2035, in addition to the establishment of a green, efficient and sustainable production system.

Manh emphasised that emissions reduction must align with economic efficiency and direct benefits for farmers. Only when farmers clearly see reduced costs and increased income can the solutions be sustained over the long term, he explained.

A key component of the transition is the development and operation of a measurement, reporting and verification system for emissions in crop production. This will serve as a foundation for Việt Nam’s agriculture to gradually participate in the carbon economy and move towards a future carbon market.

Deputy Director of the Ninh Bình Department of Agriculture and Environment Nguyen Sinh Tien described the model as an important milestone in transforming production methods towards green, high-value and sustainable agriculture.

According to Tien, Ninh Bình faces a dual challenge: increasingly complicated and unprecidented climate change impacts and rising market demands for quality, traceability and environmental friendliness. In this context, science, technology and mechanisation are identified as key drivers of modern agricultural development.

Comprehensive mechanisation from land preparation, seeding and fertiliser application to harvesting not only reduces costs and losses, but also addresses rural labour shortages and gradually forms a professional agricultural workforce, Tien added.