New faith for Vietnamese rice

ST25 rice belongs to the ST aromatic rice line with many different rice varieties, constantly being researched over 20 years. With long grains of rice, white and beautiful rice surface, and an especially fragrant scent, thanks to a hybrid of pineapple aroma of the south and nuggets of northern, ST 25 rice has surpassed rice from countries like Thailand and Cambodia to receive the first prize of this contest for the first time after participating in the contest 10 times in the past 10 years.

This is a pride for Soc Trang province in particular and Vietnam's rice production processing and export industry in general. It also proves that Vietnam is fully capable of creating high quality rice varieties and planting and processing rice products that are considered the best in the world. That is extremely important, as Vietnam has always been in the top rice exporting countries in the world in terms of volume but the quality has not been highly appreciated, and has yet to conquer a number of fastidious markets. In the segment of high quality rice, we always rank after Thailand or Cambodia.

Therefore, with this award, Vietnam rice will have greater confidence in the context of the domestic rice market and exports becoming more and more competitive.

However, for the title to promote its full value, it is necessary to have long-term plans. In particular, it is necessary to appreciate the important role of the breeding process - one of the key parts in the construction of the rice industry - to invest in researching more effectively in creating new quality varieties, which meet the increasing needs of consumers. Particularly for the ST25 rice line, next time, it is necessary to have a strategy to develop. Currently, new ST25 rice is mainly grown in some localities in the Mekong Delta, so the output is still low, resulting in a low volume of ST25 rice in the market. Meanwhile, it is one of the rice varieties with stable prices at high levels in all seasons.

After being recognized as the best rice in the world, it is hoped that scientists and localities as well as farmers will "shake hands" more closely to expand the area, build specialized cultivation areas, ensure proper technical processing and quality. Rice processing and exporting enterprises should also consider investing in the development of ST25 rice growing areas in order to build sustainable raw material areas in the long term, creating favorable conditions for exporting delicious rice at high prices. It is also necessary to research and process products originating from this type of rice to increase added value.

Meanwhile, with the title of the world's most delicious rice, stakeholders need to soon have broad promotions for people to know and trust. That will help ST25 rice to dominate the domestic premium rice market, which has long been dominated by imported rice. The expansion of consumption markets is also opening up opportunities for tens of millions of farmers to growing high-priced rice, while also making an important contribution to the branding of Vietnamese rice./.