5 groups of key tasks and solutions for agricultural development

The agricultural sector continues to achieve very positive results

Reporting on some issues in agriculture and rural development which had attracted the attention of many National Assembly (NA) deputies on June 6, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh said that after over 30 years following the Party reform policies, the agricultural sector has made breakthroughs in its development and set great strides in all fields with numerous important achievements, contributing to improving the people's living conditions.

The sector continues to achieve very positive results in the first 5 months of 2022 despite difficulties and challenges especially arising in the context of the complicated and unpredictable pandemic development, he said.

 It has grossed quite high growth in all fields over the same period, in which, the most prominent is the agricultural product exports reaching USD23.2 billion, up 16.8% compared to the same period in 2021. The key agricultural, forestry, and fishery products for export continued to be unchanged maintaining their position and brand in the international market, such as pepper having creasing by 25.7% to be the top leading export product in the world. Coffee export ranked second with USD2 billion (up 54%) while rice exports reached nearly 3 million tons (up 10.3%). Exports of vegetables and fruit export reached USD1.14 billion while seafood and wood product exports rose to USD4.79 billion (up 46.3%) and USD7.2 billion (up 6.9%), respectively.

"These are very encouraging results, continuing to affirm that agriculture has always been the backbone of the economy," emphasized Deputy PM Thanh.

There are still remained many low quality agricultural products

However, the Deputy PM also said that besides achievements, agriculture still has many limitations. Despite many diverse and rich products such as rice, fruits, livestock, and aquatics, exporting faces many difficulties, especially those relating to large markets, which require high quality.

The main reason is that there are not many concentrated agricultural production areas with large scale and high technology to meet market standards. There are many low-quality agricultural products due to fragmented and spontaneous production.“As an agricultural country, we have not been proactive in handling the important issues of inputs for agricultural production such as plant and livestock seedlings, raw materials for the production of animal feed, fertilizers, and other supplies, which have greatly affected production costs,” said Thanh.

Besides, labor productivity in agriculture is still very low, only equal to 50% - 60% of advanced countries in the region. According to statistics, about 60% of animal feed ingredients must be imported. In 2021, the sector imported 22.3 million tons of feed ingredients worth VND10 billion including over 10 million tons of corn and 5 million tons of soybean oil. Fertilizer imports made up 42%. In 2021, the sector imported about 1.54 million tons of fertilizer, worth USD45 billion.

Enterprises investing in the deep processing of agricultural products still face limitations. Our country's agricultural products, especially vegetables and fruits, are still mainly exported to China through unofficial channels. The situation of over-harvests, devaluation, and congestion of agricultural products at the northern border gates occur frequently every year causing vast economic and social losses.

Regarding some solutions in the coming time, Deputy PM Thanh said that, first of all, authorities from the central to local levels need to focus highly and well implement the resolutions set out at the Party's 5th Congress, session XIII on agriculture, farmers, and rural areas; on innovation and improvement of co 'economic efficiency; on and use and management institutions and policies. 

5 groups of key tasks and solutions for agricultural development

On the basis of the Party's and the NA's resolutions and major orientations and strategies for the agricultural development in the period 2021-2030 with a vision to 2050 and the actual situation of our country, the Government has directed to implement a number of key tasks and solutions.

The first is to renovate agricultural production and business from stages of investment, research, selection, and breeding to planning building standard raw material areas, and forming large-scale agricultural production areas. The sector should promote the application of science and technology to producing clean and high-quality agricultural products, meeting domestic consumption requirements and especially international standards.

The second is to step up trade promotion and negotiation so that agricultural products can soon be officially exported to major markets, gradually reduce exports through unofficial channels, and limit the good congestion.

The third is to boost credit support, tax exemption, and reduction to attract businesses to invest in the production of agricultural materials and fertilizers and encourage them to invest in the agricultural processing industry.

The fourth is to review and assess the overall demand for raw materials, food processing, livestock, and animal feed, since then, plan to build production zones for the animal feed industry.

The fifth is to focus on directing and summarizing proposals for the amendment and supplement of the Land Law, develop mechanisms and policies, promote land resources, and create favorable conditions for farmers in exploiting and using land effectively, making a contribution to speeding up the implementation process of the National Target Programme.