September 14, 2006

Farmers in Vietnam angered by low yield corn

Farmers in Vietnam's province of Kon Tum are in hot water after growing maize that yielded little or no corn on the cob, local media reported.

Farmers in several communes are complaining that LVN 10 corn, supplied by the Kon Tum Forestry and Agriculture Seed Centre, produced grainless corn, Thanh Nien reported.

Close to 70 percent of the commune's corn acreage produced ears without corn, said Le Tuan Thuan, chairman of Ya Ly Commune People's Committee.

Representatives of the Kon Tum Forestry and Agriculture Seed Centre and CP Company Ltd., which supplied LVN 10 corn seeds, shifted the blame to the weather.

The provincial Seedlings Testing Board said temperatures more than 33 deg C and dry drought-like conditions were to blame. The weather affected corn pollination, causing the absence of grains on the corn, the board explained.

Farmers countered that corn plantations in the same area growing other varieties thrived.

In return, the Kon Tum Forestry and Agriculture Seed Centre argued that better farming methods and timely seeding produced those results.

LVN 10 seeds were produced in collaboration with the Corn Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Centre said.

However, the newspaper's investigation found that growers in other districts had the same problem with LVN 10 corn supplied by the same centre.