Sharing about the journey of more than 30 years of persistent research and selection to bring Vietnamese rice to the world level, AHLĐ, engineer Ho Quang Cua - one of the authors of ST25 rice variety - said that the journey to create ST25 began in the 1990s, when food security was still the top priority. However, from the beginning, the research group set out the aspiration: Vietnamese rice must not only be "full" but also "delicious" and have high value.
“We went to the fields together, experimented and tasted thousands of rice samples through each crop season. There were many failures, it seemed like we had found good varieties, but when put into mass production, they did not meet the requirements for purity or disease resistance. Until ST25 was born, it was the result of the convergence of many advantages: long, white grains, fragrant pineapple leaf aroma mixed with young cốm, very characteristic sweetness,” Mr. Cua informed.
Mr. Cua said that when ST25 rice first won the title "World's Best Rice" in 2019, the second time in 2023 - pride accompanied by many concerns, especially the problem of maintaining quality when expanding production area and protecting brands against counterfeit and fake goods.
Mr. Cua said that the success of ST25 is not only the result of individuals or a research group but is the common pride of Vietnamese agriculture, showing that Vietnam is fully capable of creating world-class agricultural products.
Speaking about the expectation of expanding exports in the coming time, Mr. Ho Quang Cua said that the development potential of Vietnamese fragrant rice is still very large. According to him, in the total output of about 500,000 tons of fragrant rice last year, the domestic market consumed 61%, and small-scale exports to China accounted for 24%, while official exports to the world market only reached about 11%.
Mr. Cua acknowledged that in the history of Vietnam's rice industry, many famous specialties have been formed in all 3 regions such as Nang Thom Cho Dao (Mekong Delta), Gie An Cuu (Hue), Tam Xoan Hai Hau (North), but most have not gone beyond the local scope.
Meanwhile, ST25 is a rice variety with wide adaptability, which can be grown from North to South, from coastal to highland. In the 2025-2026 Winter-Spring crop alone, the planted area of ST25 has reached nearly 200,000 hectares, equivalent to the entire previous year of 2025, showing that the development potential is still very large, leading to opportunities to increase exports and foreign currency revenue for the country.
To fully exploit the potential, Mr. Cua believes that a stronger role from the State is needed in building national standards, protecting intellectual property and strictly managing the purity of rice grains, avoiding the situation of "uncertainty" when exporting.
Mr. Do Ha Nam - Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) said that Vietnam has been in the group of leading rice producing countries in the world, but in the coming period, the focus needs to shift from chasing output to improving value and building and positioning the Vietnamese rice brand in the market.
We believe that ST25 needs to be oriented to develop as a national rice variety, fully protected, organized production according to unified standards and developed on a transparent, closed value chain from variety, cultivation, processing to consumption," Mr. Nam said. VFA is committed to accompanying the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, localities, scientists and businesses to build ST25 into a national rice product, maintain the prestige of Vietnamese rice and expand market space in the new period.
