text: African Agriculture: The race for increased rice cultivation in Asia and Africa
  In 2009, Vietnam produced 40 million tonnes of rice. After feeding its own people, some million tonnes was left for export, all of which was grown in the Mekong Delta. Vietnam is now the world's second biggest exporter after Thailand and it now has the most productive rice farms in all of south-east Asia.
  Today agriculture contributes 17% to Vietnam's GDP. And with clear plans to grow this, it remains central to the rapidly growing economy's long-term growth strategy.Africa's 'green rice revolution'
  On the other side of the developing world, in Africa, where rice is an increasingly important staple crop, the situation looks quite different. Despite rising productivity since 2007, last year Africa still needed to import 40% of the rice it consumed, accounting for about a third of what was available on international markets. In fact, last year Egypt was the only major exporter of rice in all of Africa.
  But with the food crisis of 2008 still a raw memory, in the past two years African governments have now identified rice as a "strategic crop."
  Lien van Phoc and Hieb Vuong, both smallholder rice farmers in the Mekong Delta, know only too well how fluctuating prices, uncertain weather patterns and rising labour rates can hit the bottom line. All costs are upfront, says Vuong, and what keeps him awake at night is whether he will see a return on investment - on average around $1,000 (£621) per crop.
  In a good year, rice growers in the Mekong, whose average size plot is 0.8 hectares, will enjoy three crop cycles. But this year it will be just two as late annual flooding has left water levels at an all time low.Fear of crop failure
  For Vuong, a 45-year-old father of three who has been farming since he was 22, herbicides have had the single biggest impact in his lifetime because they marked an end to manual weeding. Witnessing this encouraged him and others to try other products.
  For the past two years, both Phoc and Vuong have been using a crop protection product developed by global agribusiness, Syngenta. Just 18 days after transplanting seedlings, Phoc says, the plants are clearly bigger and greener, yields should be up by at least 10% and with less need for fertilizer.
  However, both admit that training is essential because an incorrect application of a product could lead to crop failure. For these reasons, Syngenta offers a product packaged in a one-application dose to ensure it is used correctly. It has also established farmer training network programmes around the country.
  After the Vietnam war, the socialist government decided to build on its strengths. Rice, which has been farmed here for centuries, was one of them. Recognising too that this is a tough business, a number of incentivising steps have been taken.
  -education initiatives through private sector co-operation
  -infrastructure development to support access to markets and
  -proposed legislative reforms such as tax exemptions for farmers and foreign investors.
  While Africa is much further down the line, government commitment to agriculture is being taken seriously. As a result, rice productivity in many African countries has risen in recent years.
  Moreover, while productivity may be improving, Diagne admits that only recently he found "a farmer in Benin crying because he had increased production, but nobody wanted to buy it".
  Local is the key word as conservative estimates are that there are around 40,000 known cultivated rice varieties and thousands more wild ones. In other words, it is not as simple as copying an Asian system.