Institute works hard on improving specialty rice varieties

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Rice Research Institute works hard on improving specialty rice varieties. - Illustrative image (Photo: nongnghiep.vn)

CLRRI Director Tran Ngoc Thach said the institute has improved 6,000 ha of milky-colour variety (Tai nguyen Duc) - a rice variety for the summer-autumn crop in Soc Trang province, and built a certification mark for this type.

It will also research and improve the output and quality of other varieties such “nang Thom cho Dao” and “Nanh Chon”  which have been degraded because of unfavorable cultivation conditions, Thach said.

The institute also focuses on research of selected rice varieties, towards improving rice quality suitable for climate change in the region in accordance with a project to plant one million hectares of high-quality rice associated with green growth for the Mekong Delta region, he noted.

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

In addition, it will also research and evaluate the nutritional potential of rice varieties and develop high-value products from rice and by-products in rice production and processing; develop models rotating between rice and crops and aquaculture adapt to climate change, especially in drought and saltwater intrusion areas, in areas affected by salt water in coastal fish and shrimp farming zones, he added.

Implementing scientific research and technology transfer in the rice industry serving the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta region, the institute was tasked with performing many relevant scientific and technological projects at national and ministerial levels.

It has also developed rice farming procedures for four ecological sub-regions, which are being widely applied in rice production in the Mekong Delta region; and built an organic rice farming process in the shrimp-rice farming system in coastal areas of the Mekong Delta./.

VNA