Vietnam's agriculture and livestock: what they grow and eat

Vietnam is an agricultural country to its core. Something is growing here almost all year round: green rice fields stretch to the horizon, markets overflow with tropical fruit, and village yards keep pigs, chickens and buffalo. Here's what Vietnam grows and raises, and what locals eat every day — not the dull export figures, but real life inside the country.

An agrarian country: how the Vietnamese land lives

Agriculture is the foundation of Vietnamese life. It makes up about 12% of the country's economy, but it feeds far more than that: roughly a third of all working Vietnamese are tied to the land and the village in one way or another.

A warm climate and two big river deltas allow two or three harvests a year. That's why Vietnam feeds itself almost entirely — food here is plentiful, fresh and cheap.

Rice comes first

Vietnam's main crop is rice (lúa in Vietnamese). It's grown everywhere, but the country's two breadbaskets are the Mekong Delta in the south — Vietnam's 'rice bowl' — and the Red River Delta in the north. The Mekong Delta alone produces around 24 million tonnes of rice a year.

Here rice is eaten at literally every meal — breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Vietnamese are proud of their varieties: ST25 rice has been named the best in the world, and Jasmine rice is prized for its aroma.

Coffee, tea and other crops

After rice, the most important crop is coffee. It's grown in the Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên), mostly the robusta variety — strong and full-bodied. It's exactly what goes into the famous Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk.

In the northern mountains they grow tea. And everywhere you'll find maize, cassava, sweet potato, sugar cane, black pepper and cashew nuts — all part of the Vietnamese table and household.

Fruit: dragon fruit, mango, durian

Vietnam is a paradise of tropical fruit. Dragon fruit (thanh long), mango, durian, longan, rambutan, jackfruit, lychee, banana, pomelo and coconut all grow here. Most of the fruit — about 70% of the country's total — comes from the Mekong Delta.

Fruit is eaten all year round and costs next to nothing. At any market in Nha Trang you'll find piles of ripe mango and dragon fruit, and fresh coconut is drunk right on the street.

Vegetables and herbs on every table

No Vietnamese dish is complete without fresh herbs and vegetables. The Vietnamese grow and eat huge amounts of herbs — mint, coriander, basil, water spinach (rau muống) — served fresh with every meal. Almost every village home has its own vegetable garden.

The pig — the country's main meat

In livestock, the pig comes first. Pork makes up about 80% of all the meat the Vietnamese eat and turns up in almost every dish: braised in caramel, in soups, in bánh mì sandwiches.

Pigs are kept all over the country — on large farms and simply in the yards of village houses. It's the most familiar and affordable protein for locals.

Poultry: chickens and ducks

The second most popular meat is poultry: chickens (gà) and ducks (vịt). They're raised in almost every rural yard — around 70% of all poultry is kept in households. Chickens provide both meat and most of the country's eggs, while duck is a frequent guest at the festive table.

Buffalo and cattle

The water buffalo (trâu) is the symbol of the Vietnamese village. For centuries it was the farmer's main helper, dragging the plough across the flooded rice paddies. Today it's increasingly replaced by mini-tractors, but the buffalo is still part of the rural landscape.

Cattle (bò) are kept for beef, and the Vietnamese eat more and more of it — especially as phở bò soup and 'shaking beef' (bò lúc lắc). Dairy farming is growing too, though traditionally the Vietnamese drink little milk.

Fish and aquaculture

Fish in Vietnam isn't only caught at sea — it's actively farmed in ponds and rivers. The main species are pangasius (cá tra, also known as basa), shrimp, tilapia and snakehead. About 70% of pond fish and 80% of shrimp are raised in the Mekong Delta.

Fish is as much a staple for the Vietnamese as rice. And small fish are turned into fish sauce, 'nước mắm', without which hardly any dish is complete.

What the Vietnamese eat every day

Put it all together and you get the Vietnamese plate: a bowl of rice, a piece of pork or fish, a plate of fresh herbs and a small dish of fish sauce. That's where the famous dishes come from — phở soup, bún noodles, rice with various toppings. Simple, fresh and made from what grows nearby.

What it means for a visitor to Nha Trang

You can see all of this with your own eyes in Nha Trang: visit a local market — piles of fruit and herbs, fresh fish and meat, all straight from the surrounding fields and farms. It's the best way to feel the real Vietnam.

And if you'd like to thank local friends, your villa hosts or a partner for their hospitality — flowers are loved and given here for any occasion. We'll deliver a fresh bouquet or helium balloons to a hotel or office the same day. Message us on WhatsApp, Telegram or KakaoTalk.