HCMC allows rice land conversion to perennial crops

Under the new regulations, the City allows the conversion of rice-growing land to various perennial crops, focusing primarily on fruit trees, perennial industrial crops, ornamental plants, and certain medicinal plants. The conversion applies to the remaining rice land area and must be implemented in accordance with each locality's annual crop restructuring plan.

Within the fruit tree group, many popular plants in the Southern region are included in the permitted conversion list, such as mango, durian, rambutan, longan, jackfruit, guava, dragon fruit, rose apple, custard apple, pomelo, orange, mandarin, lemon, kumquat and apple. In addition, some high-value crops like avocado, passion fruit, grape, coconut, and papaya are also allowed to be grown on converted rice land.

Besides fruit trees, the City also permits the transition to perennial industrial crops such as cocoa, coffee, cashew and black pepper. These are considered suitable for the production shift in areas where rice cultivation is inefficient or no longer appropriate for farming conditions.

This current list also supplements the group of ornamental plants and crops with urban service value, such as yellow apricot blossoms, water jasmine, ornamental plants, bonsai, ornamental areca and ornamental coconut. Moreover, several perennial medicinal plants like gac (red melon), noni and polyscias fruticosa are permitted for conversion under the regulations.

According to the decision, the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Department of Agriculture and Environment is responsible for guiding, inspecting, and supervising the conversion of rice land to perennial crops across localities. Concurrently, this agency will review and advise on any necessary adjustments or supplements to the crop list to suit the actual production situation.

Commune-level People's Committees are tasked with basing their decisions on the approved crop list to select suitable plant varieties for local production conditions, while strengthening the inspection and supervision of the conversion to ensure regulatory compliance. The conversion to perennial crops on rice land must align with the annually approved crop and livestock restructuring plans.

The list of perennial crops permitted for conversion on rice land includes over 20 different plant varieties, focusing mainly on fruit trees, perennial industrial crops, ornamental plants and some medicinal plants with economic value. This aligns with the agricultural production restructuring orientation in HCMC in the coming period.