Ministry seeks to remove anonymity of VN rice   Workers of the Viet Nam Southern Food Corporation stack rice bags at Sai Gon Port in HCM City. - VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Hue HCM CITY  (VNS) - The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has submitted a plan to the Government that seeks to develop a Vietnamese rice brand name by 2020. For long now Viet Nam has been one of the top three rice exporting nations, but it lacks brand names that are known in the global market, the ministry has said in its proposal. Around 90 per cent of the country's rice exports comes from the Mekong Delta. Last year, delta provinces exported 3.2 million tonnes of high-quality rice, accounting for 52 per cent of total exports and 44 per cent higher than in 2013. Customers in the EU, North America, Asia, and Africa have increased import of Vietnamese rice thanks to good marketing. But the ministry points out that Vietnamese rice varieties face challenges when trying to enter quality-conscious markets. Inconsistency in quality and poor hygiene are two major weaknesses besides lack of international distribution channels. The project stresses that creating a national brand name for Vietnamese rice is essential and possible. The task will be done nation-wide but with a focus on the Mekong Delta. It is planned to implement programmes to create a national brand name at three levels: nation, region/locality and enterprises/products. The brand names will be built with authorities ensuring quality seeds are used, the cultivation strictly follows quality norms and the processing conforms to quality and hygiene standards. Popular global sustainable development standards will inform every stage of the production. Regional brand names will be developed based on products typical to a region. The project notes that a strategy to develop a national brand name for rice should focus on two issues: identifying quality-conscious markets like the US, EU and Japan to export high-quality varieties and retaining traditional markets with medium-quality rice. The value of medium-quality varieties can be given a boost by setting up direct distribution channels and marketing. - VNS