A Swiss-invested hybrid rice research and development (R&D) stationwas inaugurated in the Red River Delta province of Nam Dinh on August14, becoming the first of its kind in Vietnam under the management of aninternational group.

The station covers 4 hectares of land inTan Thinh commune, Nam Truc district. It is invested and operated bySwitzerland-based Syngenta, the world’s leading multinational group onagricultural chemicals and biotechnology.

The facility, built atthe cost of some 30 billion VND (1.4 million USD) in the first phase, isequipped with cutting-edge technologies and able to connect with otherR&D stations of Syngenta around the world to share data andinformation.

In the first phase, it will mainly use geneticresources provided by its global counterparts to cross-breed rice andexpects to supply two or three new rice varieties with high quality andyield to the Vietnamese market by 2017.

In the second phase after 2017, more modern laboratories will be set up to expand the work.

The station will also develop new cultivation methods to improve the effectiveness of rice farming.

KumardevDatta, General Director of Syngenta Vietnam, said with its advantagesin biotechnologies, Syngenta is able to mobilise its genetic resourcesaround the globe to create rice plants that are suitable for Vietnam andhelp the country become a producer and exporter of hybrid varieties.-VNA