Ca Mau province, Vietnam's southernmost province, is advancing a plan to convert 54,680 ha of paddy fields to "high-quality, low-emission rice" by 2030. It is a figure the province registered with the national project "One Million Hectares of High-Quality, Low-Emission Rice" running across the whole Mekong Delta, and it breaks down into 39,980 ha of intensive cultivation with two to three crops a year and 14,700 ha of rice-shrimp farming combining shrimp and rice. The blueprint ties the decarbonization of rice cultivation to traceability and eventually links it to the carbon-credit market. It has many points of contact with the environmentally conscious procurement that Japan's food and distribution sectors are advancing, making it a move farm-product buyers cannot overlook.
Against a target of 54,000 ha, what was reached in two years is about 1,380 ha
While the outline of the plan is clear, progress on the ground is heavy. According to local reporting, the area Ca Mau province has managed to bring to low-emission cultivation in about two years since the start remains about 1,380 ha for the whole province. That is 2.52% of the 2030 target of 54,680 ha, which works out to expanding nearly 40-fold in the remaining eight years.
For 2026, the plan puts a stage of leading adoption of 5,000 ha across 20 communes and towns. Ca Mau has a high ratio of rice-shrimp farming, and managing the timing of flooding and drying easily clashes with the growth of the shrimp. This region-specific circumstance directly governs the pace of area expansion. As for the background to the Mekong Delta being able to run triple cropping, how rice production in the Mekong Delta works covers it in detail, but the rice-shrimp belt of Ca Mau has different premises for water management even within the same delta.
With alternate wetting and drying, seed rice down 20–40% and profit per ha up by 12,000–48,000 yen
Where the numbers are moving is in the demonstration plots. The core technology is alternate wetting and drying (AWD; in Vietnamese "Tuoi ngap kho xen ke"), which does not keep the paddy continuously flooded but alternates wet and dry. This suppresses methane generation while cutting inputs too. In Ca Mau's demonstration plots, seed rice fell by 20–40%, nitrogen fertilizer by about 20%, and pesticides decreased as well. Rice straw is handled without burning.
On the revenue side, profit per ha is reported to have risen by 2 million–8 million dong. Replacing 10,000 dong with roughly 60 yen (converting at about US$1 ≈ 150 yen / about 25,400 dong), that corresponds to an uplift of about 12,000–48,000 yen in Japanese yen. The fact that reducing inputs came with yield and take-home pay—environment and profitability facing the same direction—is a push for wider adoption. One estimate puts the emission-reduction effect of AWD at a 38% cut in greenhouse gases while raising profit by 6%; for details, the sustainable production system of Mekong Delta agriculture lays it out.
| Item | Figures for Ca Mau province | Positioning |
|---|---|---|
| 2030 target area | 54,680 ha | Intensive 39,980 ha + rice-shrimp 14,700 ha |
| Area reached so far | About 1,380 ha | 2.52% of the target |
| Leading adoption in 2026 | 5,000 ha / 20 communes and towns | Starting point of expansion |
| Seed-rice reduction | Down 20–40% | Results in demonstration plots |
| Nitrogen-fertilizer reduction | Down about 20% | Results in demonstration plots |
| Increase in profit | 2 million–8 million dong per ha (about 12,000–48,000 yen) | Converted at 10,000 dong ≈ 60 yen |
On carbon, "preparing production data" comes before "selling credits"
In this plan, carbon credits are not portrayed as something to be cashed in immediately. The order Ca Mau province has set is to first firm up production-history records and traceability, build up data by origin, and on that foundation create a state in which farmers can access the credit market. Only once an MRV scheme to measure, report, and verify emission reductions is in place does it ride on international credit trading. Rather than promising volume or amounts first, verifiable data is prepared first. It is a build with little backtracking.
Here the cooperative (HTX) becomes the linchpin. In the Mekong Delta, where each household's paddy is small, MRV cannot run unless farmers are bundled together, cultivation standards are aligned, and records are unified. Ca Mau placing cooperatives and producer-group coordination at the entrance of the plan is a realistic answer to this structure.
A circuit that connects to Japan's decarbonized procurement—what Green Carbon's move shows
This transition meshes with the Japanese side's sourcing policy. As the trend of food and restaurant businesses demanding environmental-load information on raw materials strengthens, rice cultivated with AWD and equipped with traceability is easy to explain as a raw material for products that emphasize decarbonization. In fact, Japan's Green Carbon has joined the "One Million Hectares" project and signed memoranda on paddy carbon credits centered on AWD with several provinces. In the framework the company concluded with An Giang province, it aims to create about 3.66 million tonnes of credits by 2035. Ca Mau's plan, too, leaves room to connect with such Japan-originated technology and capital.
The pattern by which Japanese companies produce results in Vietnamese agriculture lies less in production volume itself than in cutting into the value chain. Past winning formulas are successful cases of agribusiness in Vietnam laid out there, and low-emission rice is a new angle that can be placed on that same line.
Points buyers and importers should watch from now
Translated into procurement practice, what you should confirm is less the size of the area than "which origins can run the records." Ca Mau's 54,680 ha is a 2030 destination, and what can be used in contracts now is limited to origins of around 1,380 ha where demonstration has been completed. The side that secures fields with traceability and cultivation standards in place early can stably obtain raw material for products that appeal to decarbonization.
Another point of focus is rice-shrimp farming. Ca Mau has allocated 14,700 ha—more than a quarter of the target—to the rice-shrimp belt. Double cropping in the same field, rice in the low-salinity season and shrimp in the high-salinity season, makes pesticides and chemical fertilizers easier to hold down and lets low-emission rice and shrimp be sourced from the same origin. This combination, invisible with rice alone, defines the contours of Ca Mau as an origin.
Sources
- Nong nghiep & Moi truong, "Ca Mau huong den 54.680 ha lua phat thai thap" (August 10, 2026): https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/ca-mau-huong-den-54680-ha-lua-phat-thai-thap-d825393.html
- Báo Chính phủ「Từ 1.380 ha đến mục tiêu 54.680 ha」: https://baochinhphu.vn/tu-1380-ha-den-muc-tieu-54680-ha-ca-mau-tim-loi-giai-mo-rong-dien-tich-lua-chat-luong-cao-102260709173008523.htm
- Vietnam News「Mekong targets low-emission rice production with carbon credit initiative」: https://vietnamnews.vn/society/1664591/mekong-targets-low-emission-rice-production-with-carbon-credit-initiative.html
- Green Carbon Inc.「An Giang Province MOU」: https://green-carbon.co.jp/en/angiang_dae_mou_gc_en/
