A rice field in the Mekong Delta. Photo: VNA

The information was revealed by the provincial Department of Industry and Trade at a press conference in Vinh Long on November 12.

A series of activities will be held at the festival, including a trade fair with 800-1,000 pavilions, a rice cooking contest, and an art photography competition on the theme of rice fields and rice cultivation.

Workshops on important issues related to agricultural development will also be held as part of the event, focusing on legal framework and policies for agricultural cooperatives, agricultural vocational training, conditions for developing agro-economy and rural areas, support for rice growers, and investment in processing and trading farm produce.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Vietnam Farmer’s Union will jointly organise a ceremony to honour outstanding inpiduals and collectives in implementing the target of developing 15,000 effective cooperatives and associations of agricultural cooperatives.

In the first 10 months of 2019, Vietnam exported 5.56 million tonnes of rice worth 2.43 billion USD, up 6.1 percent in volume but down 9.1 percent in value year-on-year.

Recently, the Soc Trang-based organic rice ST24 was honoured as the best in the world for flavour for the first time ever, as it was granted the World’s Best Rice 2019 award at the 11^th Annual World’s Best Rice Contest in Manila, the Philippines.

This is the first time ever that a Vietnamese rice variety has been honoured as the best in the world after 10 seasons of the annual contest in the last decade. Previously, ST24 ranked third in the 9^th World's Best Rice event in Macau, China, in 2017.

As a specialty of Soc Trang Province, ST24 features outstanding qualities: long grain, clear white colour, and fragrant and sticky cooked rice. In March 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development officially recognised the ST24 rice variety as a national rice variety./.

VNF/VNA/NDO