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Ha Noi – An agricultural project has successfully grown rice on land where soil salinity was previously thought to be too high for cultivation of rice paddies.

Under the project in the southernmost province of Ca Mau, farmers combine rice cultivation with shrimp farming on land where soil salinity is nearby freshwater areas.

According to the Ca Mau Rural Development and Agriculture Department, the project has proved to be a success after many years of trials. Nearly 2,000 farmers have successfully harvested rice in areas previously thought to be unable to support rice crops.

Under the model, farmers can reap four tonnes of rice per hectare while also harvesting 500 kg of shrimp per hectare. This has doubled farmer's income to VND100 million per hectare.

Earlier, shrimp farming was limited to areas with high salinity while rice paddies were limited to fresh water areas. Local farmers had struggled to effectively use land, totalling some 100,000 hectares in the districts of Thoi Binh, Cai Nuoc, Phu Tan, Tran Van Thoi and U Minh where soil salinity was thought to be too high for cultivation of most crops.

The combined production model has opened up many new opportunities for thousands of farmers. The province currently has about 20,000 hectares of cultivation land under the combined rice and shrimp farming production model. --VNS

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