European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 18 the stars and stripes sunday february 16, 1986 food production is priority for Vietnam Ted Chan United press International Hoan Van Tuono carefully reflects on the nation s agricultural reforms since the Vietnam War and concludes his life i improved "relatively."that, he said translates to enough Dally Rice for two meals on Many Days instead of one meal and meat perhaps twice a week instead of practically none at All. I Don t have Money and i Don t expect to get any to buy something said Tuong 57, sitting in a two room dirt floor House in Lai cach a farm cooperative 60 Miles Southeast of Hanoi. Eighty percent of Vietnam s 60 million people live in the Countryside. Like Tuong s household of seven they Haw beef lated from agricultural reforms that have capitalist undertones eating better and in some cases building new houses and buying a radio. But the burgeoning vietnamese population and other handicaps keep food consumption on a thin margin of subsistence with Little Prospect of dramatic improvement in the near future. Tuong extra bowl or Rice for example do not exist year round. During the three months before Rice harvests March july and August the family borrows food and grows More vegetables. Vietnam s 1985 production of Staple foods including Rice Maize and Sweet potatoes totalled 18.2 million metric tons compared with 11.6 million tons in 1975 when the War ended and 15 million tons in 1981 when Rural reforms were introduced. Still the average per capita food consumption has not even matched wartime stocks because of Vietnam s 1 million births per year since 1975. Last year the average monthly food allotment was 55 pounds 4vz pounds less than the wartime ration of the late 1960s and Early 1970s when Vietnam had some 12 million fewer people. Without massive capital input and More fertilizer neither of which appears to be forthcoming Vietnam s agriculture appears doomed to Battle against nature waste and military priorities. Droughts typhoons floods and pests often devastate huge tracts of verdant Fields. Natural disasters destroyed 800,000 tons of Rice alone in 1985 and widespread calamities Ere the Norm every three to four years said la Xuan dunh a ministry of agriculture official. After the Harvest about one fourth of the food will rot on the ground because of inadequate storage and poor transportation said dunh. Low monetary reserves limit capital investments and sizeable Western assistance is denied is Long As. Vietnamese troops occupy Cambodia where Tuong lost one of his sons in 1981 to Western backed guerrillas. Lai cach him in Hal Hung province in the heart of the crowded red River Delta the Rice Basket of Northern Vietnam. Ten thousand people Are packed into a 4t4-Square mlle area and if the Herd of youngsters engulfing a visitor Are any measure postwar birth control has not worked Well. The cooperative met its targeted 750 tons of Rice for the government last year but 1985 was lean. Rainstorms destroyed the expected surplus for Sale on the Market. Coop leaders calculate for a monthly per capita food consumption of 44 pounds. That is 11 pounds More than the minimum requirement to provide 2,400 calories per Day but 15 pounds less than the wartime ration. Nutrition in the nation s Rice based diet is another concern. The nutrition is no Good. The amount of protein from meat milk eggs and fish is very Low said Dinh. Although pork is the Basic meat in the vietnamese diet the government is promoting cattle raising simply because feeding pigs Means less Grain for people said dunh. Nol Hanoi official consider increased food production the nation s top priority. That Means the contract system that has revolutionized China s Economy. Farmers negotiate with the cooperative about 3,000 people or one Village to produce a certain Quantity of food for a fixed Price. After the Harvest the government buys the set quota and receives another share of the crop As payment for fertilizer equipment seeds and pesticides the state provides. The surplus May be sold privately on the free Market. In addition 5 percent of a cooperative s land is divided into private plots for a household s extra Cash crops. The new incentives also applied to the fishing Industry helped boost food production. Production also was helped by newly opened farm land and new seeds that allow for additional harvests of faster growing Rice. They brought Back Vietnam from what communist party chief be Duan called a truly perilous situation Between 1976 and 1980 when the postwar baby Boom and bad management decreased food supplies by 23 percent compared to the late War years. Indochina Walchars aay hunger contributed to the exodus of the vietnamese boat people As much As the government s desire to get rid of political undesirables. The agricultural production has not yet steadily solved the food problem the production of Industrial non Rice crops and farm produce for Export is still below the Mark the labor productivity is Low admitted minister for agriculture Nguyen Ngoc Tolu in an interview with a Vietnam newsweekly. In 19s6, agricultural production still is the Foremost front said Tolu. We must try to achieve 19 million to 20 million tons of food in 1986. This is our biggest aim and no. 1 Youn Gittin stand Noar o Waif on we Kif an Walt ten Tho Namett and numb on of Farmon at Tho la cach farm torpor Aliro. The numb on Rop Tont the food production quote Tho formers an expo cod to moot to food Thor fam Tot and Iob a Iharos to Trio gov Ommond. Us phone
