Viet Nam

The potato remained a minor vegetable in Vietnam until the 1970s when population growth and annual typhoon damage of the rice crop motivated farmers to use the dry season from November to February for potato production.

They adopted shorter-duration rice varieties which allowed time for potato. The increase in potato cultivation was dramatic.

The Red River Delta is the lowland zone where most potatoes are grown. Potatoes can be grown in Red River Delta paddy fields after rice during the dry season when irrigation is available. High yielding, early maturing rice varieties make it possible to harvest two rice crops within eight months, leaving four months in the winter for potato production. The typical crop rotation is Spring rice-Early autumn rice-potato. The winter crop is planted from October to December. Later, in January-February a spring crop is planted in the Red River Delta for seed.planted after rice in November and December and accounts for the vast majority of the potato production.

Smaller amounts of potatoes are also grown year-round in the highlands of Dalat, at an altitude of 1,300 metes above sea level (masl) near Ho Chi Minh City, and some small areas in the mountainous regions of the north.