According to the Department of Crop Production, in recent years, the maize area has reached more than 1 million ha/year, the yield is rather low - only 4.6 million tons/ha. 

Annually, Vietnam still has to spend a large amount of foreign currency to import corn seeds to serve the needs of animal feed processing in the country. 

In 2016, Vietnam imported 8.3 million tons of maize. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said that it would maintain the current area, but increase the value and output per unit of cultivated area, and encourage the adoption of new varieties, advanced farming methods, and accelerated mechanization. 

The reasons for low productivity are unfavorable farming conditions and difficult terrain. The application of new varieties with resistance to unfavorable factors will improve the yield and quality of maize after harvesting. The introduction of genetically modified varieties into production in 2015 has initially been a positive signal, as corn yields and farmers incomes have improved remarkably. In 2016, the estimated area of transgenic maize accounted for about 10% of the total maize area in the country. 

Read the original article in Vietnamese at SGGP online.