Venezuela To Boost Rice Via Vietnamese Method: Less Fertilizer, More Fish

Posted by Matt Hopkins|14 May 2009

Venezuela has began a project to grow rice using Vietnamese technology, reports Thaindian News. The Vietnamese method, which replaces chemical fertilizers with fish in water channels between the rice plots, is to be tried in a pilot project on 65,000 hectares in Apure state. Officials hope the method will increase crop yieldsby as much as 30%.

President Hugo Chavez — who has started a program to make Venezuela self-sufficient in staple foods — praised the “great advances” in agriculture achieved by the Vietnamese, whom he called a “fighting people”. Chavez said the agreement with Vietnam would allow Venezuela to “increase … (rice) productivity by 30%, (provide) environmental benefits and (create) new jobs” in the region.

Nguyen Van Bo, head of Vietnam’s Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said the two countries would continue moving forward with the development of hybrid rice varieties and farming techniques. The Apure project will use several rice hybrids created from Venezuelan and Vietnamese seeds.