Quest for ‘national rice varieties’ lacks focus and results

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s rice has always been cheaper than Thailand’s. Lately the price gap has become wider and wider. This has been attributed to the fact that Vietnam still does not have good ‘national rice’ varieties.

Thai rice wins out in Vietnam

Tran Dinh Long, professor, academician, and Chairman of the Vietnam Plant Variety Association

Tran Dinh Long, a professor, academician, and Chairman of the Vietnam Plant Variety Association at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), said in a recent interview with Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam that though MARD has spent billions of dong on scientific research, no ‘national rice’ variety has been found. A result is that Vietnam’s rice must always sell cheaply.

Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam: Why don’t we have ‘national rice’ varieties?

Dr. Tran Dinh Long: In order to have high quality rice, the first thing we have to do is to create new rice varieties. Rice variety plays the decisive role in the quality of rice. Thailand is exporting rice to the world with just two high-quality varieties. Thai scientists have focussed solely on developing the two varieties in order to have the best quality rice. Therefore, Thailand’s rice exports always have high prices.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese scientists have been following a lot of scientific research paths. They have created dozens of varieties, but none of them has the standard of excellence we hope for.

In recent years, we have focused on developing technologies. However, Vietnam’s new varieties do not thrive on a large scale in rice fields.

We have not followed a well-reasoned procedure in researching for new rice varieties, from subject selection to project implementation.

In most cases, scientists suggest a theme for research and then they carry out the research when their proposals are approved by scientific councils. The suggested themes are just random ideas which do not originate from market forces.

Vietnam has not concentrated its efforts on the most promising scientists. The budget for scientific research is divided among so many research centres and institutes that each of them gets only one or two billion dong every year. The centres and institutes themselves say they only can create so-so varieties with such minimal funding.

TBKTVN: Do you mean that we have many research institutes that carry research about rice, but little focus?

Long: Yes, I do. Every research institute studies rice, from the Agricultural Genetics Institute to the Soils and Fertilisers Research Institute to the National Institute of Plant Protection. Therefore, our best human resources have been dispersed.

The biology laboratory is at the genetics institute has modern equipment but does not bring high efficiency. The same is true at other institutes. The finance mechanism remains rigid, so the heads of projects are not allowed to take initiatives in using money.

TBKTVN: Does that explain why a plant breeding programme that spends hundreds of billion dong still cannot produce national rice varieties?

Long: The scheme on reviewing plant and animal development programmes being followed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development remains irrational. It’s not public, objective nor scientific. At first, some scientists of the plant variety association were invited to join the review conferences. However, they are no longer invited any more. Therefore, scientific projects do not have independent critics from non-state organizations, which means that no one points out the shortcomings of the research. Therefore, though having spent a lot of money, Vietnam still does not have national rice varieties.

TBKTVN: Thailand is exporting well with just two rice varieties. Vietnam has dozens of varieties but our exports cannot compete with Thailand. . .

Long: When scientists announce new varieties, they always dignify their achievements, saying that the varieties can well replace the Khang Dan or Q5 strains. However, in fact, the new varieties still cannot do that. Unlike Vietnam, which has been following many projects at once, Thailand has been making deep and thorough research. I cannot understand why the Government does not check up on what our research institutes are doing.

The Vietnamese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) was formed by gathering 12 smaller institutes with 2,000 scientists. How much do we have to pay for so many scientists? The problem is that the state does not clearly require scientists to create national rice varieties.

TBKTVN: Will Vietnamese scientists say ‘yes’ if the State agrees to spend 10-15 billion dong on a single project and orders them to find national rice varieties?

Long: I think some groups of scientists will take on the job. The problem lies in the financial scheme. I mean by that that the head of the project must be given the right to take initiative in spending money.

In other countries, the state just allocates two million dollars, for example, and requires a rice variety be developed with certain attributes. It does not care how the money is spent in detail. Meanwhile in Vietnam, money is scattered over administrative staff at many levels, while researchers – the ones who really create new varieties -- get just a little bit of money.

VAAS once hired an Australian Viet-kieu to work for it, but it had to stop because there was no mechanism to permit it to pay a salary to a foreigner.

VietNamNet/TP

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Hanoi amends personnel strategy

VietNamNet Bridge - After VietNamNet published articles about Hanoi’s new personnel strategy, Hanoi Department of Home Affairs’ deputy chief Le Quoc Cuong said on September 25 that the plan will be amended.

Hanoi looks to PhD’s for ‘breakthrough ideas’ in the future

The Hanoi Department of Home Affairs’ deputy chief Le Quoc Cuong.

Cuong told the media that the controversial strategy on personnel will be changed to one more appropriate to the actual situation and requirements.

He confirmed that strategy, which was approved by Hanoi’s Chairman Nguyen The Thao on August 24, 2009 and posted on the city’s website two days later, has not gone ahead as a result of a request from the Department of Home Affairs.

Cuong says that the Department of Home Affairs viewed the plan some as containing some “unsuitable points”, in particularly when judged alongside several by-law documents which are being compiled to guide government employees law.

Cuong adds: “Hanoi will reconsider this strategy because this is a long-term plan. Some goals will be changed.”

At present, the Hanoi Party Committee manages around 500 officials, with 8 percent of them holding doctor degrees and 26 percent with master degrees.

“We have had over 30 percent of the officials being masters and doctors so it is completely feasible to have 50 percent of officials being doctors by 2020,” said Cuong.

He adds that all provinces and cities have funding for personal training, which comes from the state budget.

It follows the new personnel strategy introduced recently which saw Hanoi aiming to have all officials managed by the local Party Committee holding PhDs by 2020.

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“Good and honest officials are regarded as fools”

VietNamNet’s readers write in to the Administrative Reform Forum with more ideas on improving government.

Gov’t agencies need to be rated

Why friends ask “Are you getting any extra benefit?”

Finance Ministry grapples with reform of its ‘limitless formalities’

Readers share their frustration with red tape, propose solutions

Are low gov’t wages the cause of ‘bureaucratic’ behavior?

Finance Ministry grapples with reform of its ‘limitless formalities’

VietNamNet opens public forum about administrative formalities

From Russia, reader Hong Son sends a story about his close friend who returned to Vietnam to get married. An official “suggested” that a gratuity of seven million dong could ensure completion of all necessary formalities. It’s obvious, Son said, that only when people are taught self-respect at school that it will be possible to have public servants who refrain from asking for things to which they aren’t entitled.

Reader La Ken from Hai Phong said that if the entire administrative system were computerized, it will be more effective, saving money and time for the people and harassment would be diminished because the people wouldn’t have to directly meet with officials. “By automating procedures,” he wrote, “we can cut down the number of government employees by two-thirds. Wages for government employees will rise while the state doesn’t have to pay more,”

Ken speculated that simplifying formalities is simple in other countries but difficult in Vietnam because officials who hold the power in the government system don’t want to harm their own self- interest.

Many readers propose that public services be privatized. They also suggest a standardized recruitment policy, tighter discipline and reduced government staffs.

Tran Thi Dung from HCM City maintains that the current number of government employees ought to be slashed in half. “In addition, we should reduce the number of divisions and departments within government agencies by two-thirds. Within each division and department, the number of staff should be reduced so that all officials are always busy. Naturally, administrative formalities will be reduced and they will be paid a satisfactory salary,” Dung wrote.

Pham Thi Van from Da Nang questioned: “If an official deliberately takes risks that cause losses to his organization, how would it be if – as in other countries -- his boss has to resign?”

Promotions go to those who are clever at ‘building relations’

VietNamNet’s readers have not only analysed the phenomenon of harassment but also have pointed out the danger of relying on officials who are not good in their jobs nor of high moral character, but instead are just clever at “footwork” and good at building “good relations” with their bosses. Some comment how odd it is that pure and honest officials are regarded by their colleagues as “eccentric fools” and referred to as “idiots.”

A reader at nv.thieu54@... complains: “It is painful how often rich officials return to their home villages openly boasting about their talent in building relations with their superiors. They are proud because the whole village and their relatives admire and honor them as talented people – or so they seem, since they are richer than many who have high diplomas.”

Hoang Nga from Hanoi expresses frank criticism: “Don’t excuse immorality as the consquence of low salaries. Many people live purely and keep their self-respect. It is regrettable that such officials are rare today and they may be thought of as “stupid” by their colleagues.”

According to Hoang Nga, cases of officials abusing administrative formalities to benefit themselves has become an “epidemic.” The perpetrators are not ashamed when they harass the people.

Some students now studying overseas told VietNamNet that the current situation discourages them from returning home to work. Nguyen Huong in London said that she is studying with some Vietnamese officials. Whenever they talk to each other, they always mention that this position is lucrative or that position is good for earning money or it is very easy to create difficulties for people who need their help.

Huong added that although the monthly salary of these officials is two to three million dong, they spend luxuriously.

“Let’s bravely change our policy entirely, like Singapore did. Don’t set up a long ‘roadmap” that will take many years to execute” Huong urged.

The prayer of nearly every reader is that the government will strongly commit to the reform of ‘administrative procedures’ and take resolute action.

Le Nhung

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Foreign songs with foolish Vietnamese lyrics, choice of young singers?

VietNamNet Bridge – Instead of buying exclusive Vietnamese songs like their seniors did, many young singers pay copyright royalties for foreign songs and replace the foreign words with silly Vietnamese lyrics.

Singer Phi Nga who bought Korean Wondergirls' "So Hot".

The pioneer in this trend is Bao Thy, who started her singing career on the Internet. Bao Thy performed Pussycat Dolls’ “Button”, which is translated into Vietnamese as Lang Quen (Oblivion), Lenka’s “The Show”, which becomes Thien Than trong Truyen Tranh in Vietnamese (An Angel in Cartoon) among other songs.

Following Bao Thy are May Trang troupe, singer Phi Nga, Wanbi Tuan Anh and Noo Phuoc Thinh.

A show organiser advised a young singer: “To become famous quickly, you should sing some Korean or Chinese songs. Vietnam has so many singers, local song writers can’t produce enough good songs for them.”

Chinese and Korean songs are favoured by many young singers, for example May Trang with So Hot and Nobody, Minh Quan and Noo Phuoc Thinh with Because I’m Stupid, a song from a popular Korean TV series, Thanh Thao with Hollaback Girl, Stronger and Luu Huong Giang with Maria.

Singers often introduce these songs through the Internet or perform them on the stage, not on their albums.

It is thought that when Vietnam joined the Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, it would be very difficult for Vietnamese singers to buy foreign songs, so once they owned them, singers would advertise their songs noisily like Ho Quynh Huong and My Tam did in the past. According to Ho Quynh Huong, it was very hard to buy the copyright of Ruslana’s Wild Dances.

Singer Bao Thy.

However, Bao Thy and Phi Nga’s cases show that it is very easy to buy foreign songs with Vietnamese lyrics and at cheaper prices than Vietnamese songs.

Actually, foreign songs performed by Vietnamese singers have sweet melodies and are popular, but the Vietnamese lyrics are quite silly and funny.

For example, “So Hot” of South Korean’s top girlband Wondergirls becomes, with Phi Nga, “Seven Times to Love”. Some joke that the song is only long enough to tell about seven love affairs. If it was longer, perhaps Phi Nga would have named it 10 or 15 Times to Love.

Thanh Thao also paid copyright royalties for famous foreign songs like Hollaback Girl and Stronger and replaced the English lyrics with English-Vietnamese lyrics, for instance: “and now ta cung ben nhau, da xa khong con chi ma, I don’t want to be a bad girl”.

A song with an “amazing” name, “Ca Thang 4” (April Fool), turns out to be “Four Minutes” performed by Madona and Justin Timberlake; Sieu Nhan Bay (Flying Superman) is Haru Haru by the Korean band Big Bang.

It is a normal thing to buy foreign songs and replace their lyrics with Vietnamese lyrics, but more thought ought really to go into the words.

PV

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Hanoi eco-group replaces plastic bags with banner-bags

09:55' 23/07/2009 (GMT+7)

Hanoi-based 3R club members and students of Hanoi University of Technology pose with eco-bags on the school’s campus. VietNamNet Bridge - A group of young volunteers in Hanoi are improving the environment one bag at a time with an inventive form of recycling. The members of Hanoi-based 3R Club (Reduce – Reuse – Recycle), have found a new use for old street banners. They can be made into eco-bags which are reusable and play an important role in raising public awareness to reduce the use of plastic bags. Launched in March, the project “Please, give me an eco-bag” started with a public call for old banners and canvas sheets to make into eco-bags, head of the project Dinh Thi Lan Ngoc says. 3R members wash the old banners then take them to the Thanh Nha Center for the Disabled, where 68 workers recycle the scrap material into useful shopping and school bags. The 3R team designs each bag using half a square meter of material. Ngoc says they chose canvas for the eco-bags, because many banners are left hanging around the city getting damaged by the weather and going to waste. “If we can use canvas to make ecobags, we’ll reduce waste from advertising while raising public awareness about environmental protection,” she says. So far, the two-year project has been conducted at Hanoi University of Technology, Hanoi-Amsterdam High School, Thanh Cong Market, and organizations under the city’s Department of Natural Resources with students and housewives as its main targets. According to Ngoc, during the first stage that will finish in January next year, they have hosted different activities to inform consumers of the dangers of plastic bags and promote their recycled bags. They attended neighborhood meetings in Ba Dinh District, where the project was piloted to hold games and raffles using the eco-bags for prizes for housewives. They also cooperated with the National Economics University to organize music and green fashion shows for students, and invited them to attend the canvas-for-eco-bag exchange program. At Hanoi-Amsterdam High School, the 3R crew together with the Green Hanoi Ams Club presented the bags to students and called for them to save all the banners from school activities to exchange with 3R. “We don’t dare to think about big changes, because the project is really small,” Ngoc had said in an interview with a local newswire. “Our aim is to raise public awareness about reducing plastic bags as much as possible, and using bags of other materials instead.” She says the club plans to cooperate with supermarkets to distribute and promote eco-bags to consumers for the project’s second stage. Beautiful bags Tran Thien Duc, who is in charge of the voluntary team under Hanoi University of Technology, says his school holds many outdoor activities, so they had lots of old banners to exchange with 3R for eco-bags. “Honestly, when we received the eco-bags, I was so surprised how the waste canvas was turned into such beautiful bags of various shapes displaying the school’s logo and the youth union’s badge,” Duc says. The bags will be distributed to the volunteer team so they can use them to promote environment protection at Hanoi’s suburban communes in the summer, he adds. “Students love new stuff, so we find it easy to approach them,” Ngoc says. But she notes that it’s not so simple for many who are used to plastic bags. While the project has more than one year to go, Ngoc’s club has already earned respect and appreciation from others. “We appreciate the young people’s enthusiastic volunteer spirit for the community,” Chu Thi Thanh Nha, director of Thanh Nha Center for the Disabled, says. “By working with them, the disabled can learn new skills and make nice products.” The 3R Club was established in December 2007 with more than 100 young members to implement 3R initiatives under the 3R Hanoi (3R-HN) project sponsored by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. So far, it has hosted many activities, including three Mottainai festivals where people can come and exchange or sell old things for charitable funds, gaining great attention from the public and the media. VietNamNet/Thanh Nien

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University entrance exam marks low, why?

VietNamNet Bridge – As the marking of exam papers is two-thirds finished, experts now can say for sure that university entrance exam marks will be lower this year than last year. But what is the reason? Tough exam questions or the poor capability of students?

Mathematics and history will see low marks

Teacher Nguyen Hong Chau, who has been marking mathematics exam papers for Thang Long University for one week, said that the most common marks are 2.0-2.5, while there are a lot of zeros. The highest mark she has seen so far is 8.25. There are not many 6-7s, while there are many below average marks.

At the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences under the Hanoi National University, Bui Vu Anh, a lecturer of Mathematics Faculty, said that no examinee of either A or B groups has got 10 marks for mathematics so far.

Anh predicts that the examinee who gets a 5.5 or 6 for mathematics can cherish the hope of passing the exam to enter the university.

According to Le Huu Lap, Deputy Director of the Post & Telecommunications Institute and Technology, over 4,000 mathematics exam papers have been marked, while papers that scored 3-4 account for the biggest proportion.

The Hanoi University of Industry said that it has finished marking group-A’s exam papers, while its president Hoang Van Dien said that most examinees got low marks. There are only six or seven examinees who got 6-7s among every 40 examinees. The university last year required students to get 17-20 marks to be enrolled into the university.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Si Khanh, Deputy Head of the Training Division under the Vietnam Trade Union University, said that low marks have also been seen on history exam papers.

My Giang Son from Saigon University has also reported the bad quality of history exam papers, saying that the low result of mathematics and history exam papers may lead to lower required marks this year. According to Son, there are not many above average marks in history and no examinee has got a 10.

More satisfactory results for geography and physics

While universities have reported low marks for mathematics and history, they have reported more satisfactory results for geography and physics.

Khanh from the Trade Union University said that in history, there are many 8-9s, but there is no 10 mark.

The required marks for students to get into the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences are expected to be 0.5-1 marks lower than last year.

The Hanoi Foreign Trade University expects to keep the required marks at the same level as last year or only a bit lower, because many examinees have got high marks for literature at 7.0-7.5

The Banking Academy has reported 20 percent of examinees getting 9s and 10s for physics, while only four percent of examinees have got 9-10s for chemistry.

Who to blame? Questions or examinees?

A mathematics expert said that A and D group exam questions this year proved to be very long. This, he said, has resulted in the low marks for mathematics.

Moreover, he said, the question about inequality was really very tough; therefore, there will be not many 10 marks for mathematics.

The literature questions for C group have also been thought as ‘having problems’.

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Two days, three die at Vietnam’s highest building

VietNamNet Bridge – An occupational accident occurred on July 22 at the construction site of the Keangnam building in Tu Liem district, Hanoi, which will be the highest structure in Vietnam, killing one and injuring another. The day before, two workers died after falling from the 13^th floor.

The construction site of the Hanoi Landmark Tower project.

According to police, the first accident happened at 10 pm, July 21, with two workers aged 43 and 22. They died immediately after falling from the 13^th floor.

The second accident was recorded at 4 pm, July 22, with one death and one injured. The names of the victims and the reason for the accident have not been released.

The Hanoi Landmark Tower project, invested in by South Korean group Keangnam, was launched in 2007, at a cost of $1 billion, the biggest project in Hanoi at that time.

This project comprises a twin tower of 48-storeys, totalling 918 apartments and a 70-storey building.

In late 2008, as many people were doubtful about the feasibility of the completion of this project, the investor Keangnam affirmed it would finish the construction in October 2010.

According to Keangnam, Hanoi Landmark Tower will be the highest building in Vietnam and the 17^th-highest in the world.

The Hanoi Construction Department’s chief Bui Van Chien said that it is serious to have two occupational accidents occur at the same place within a few days.

The department’s experts inspected the construction site today, July 23.

VietNamNet/VNE

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