HANOI — Vietnam’s Mekong Delta food basket will produce 2.4 percent more rice this year as the government allows farmers to plant a bigger third crop to boost supply amid soaring global prices and escallating food security concerns.

Output from the delta – which produces about 58 percent of the rice in the world’s second-largest exporter – will be 21 million tons of paddy, a government official told Reuters on Wednesday, or about 10.5 million tons of milled rice.

"The policy of the Agriculture Ministry this year is not to reduce the third rice crop," Pham Van Du, deputy head of the Agriculture Ministry’s Crop Department, said in a telephone interview.

News of the increased supply may help ease some of the mounting anxiety around Asia, Africa and the Middle East about the availability of rice following export curbs imposed by big producers trying to fight growing food-related inflation.

Benchmark Thai rice prices have doubled this year to a record $800 a tonne as importers race to build up stocks for fear of running short on the staple food for 3 billion Asians.

With their eyes on record prices, farmers across southeast Asia are now working hard to increase production and plant extra crops, and traders said Vietnam’s third crop may allow it to surpass the country’s export target for the year.

"Food security is very important this year so we have instructed farmers to focus on planting at the same time and apply measures to fight pests," said Du.

"We can guarantee the paddy output target will be achieved," he said. The Delta grows three rice crops a year. The winter-spring season – which is being harvested now – is its best-quality crop, with the grain mainly used for export.

Du said while the winter-spring crop area is slightly smaller than usual, the acreage for the next summer-autumn crop will be expanded. It is also backing a third rice crop, usually the smallest, which Hanoi normally discourages in order to give the land enough resting time between harvests.

The third harvest often takes place in the last quarter of each year when Vietnam often adjusts its annual rice export target, and its grain is mostly used for domestic consumption. But good weather conditions may change that this year.

"The delta has been enjoying good weather this year as it is not so hot, so the grain quality will be better and some of the third-crop grain may be used for export," said a rice trader based in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho said.

The Vietnamese government has lowered its rice export target this year to 3.5 million to 4 million tons, from an initial target of 4 million to 4.5 million tons and down from 4.5 million tons shipped in 2007.

Farmers in Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter, have also been scrambling to plant a third crop to capitalize on record high prices, although officials say that effort has been stymied by a shortage of seeds.