Enterprises are the driving force for the development of high-tech agriculture

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy

The People's Committee of Long An province has just coordinated with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) to organize the Vietnam agricultural development forum in 2023 with the theme: Attracting businesses to invest in sustainable agriculture. The forum welcomed the attendance of Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan and leaders of Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region along with experts in domestic and foreign enterprises.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development statistics, the country currently has over 900,000 operating businesses, but only 50,000 businesses invest in agriculture. Compared with the actual space, enterprises' agricultural investment is not worthy of creating a breakthrough for sustainable development.

Meanwhile, the agricultural sector aims to develop smart agriculture, international integration, adapt to climate change, increase added value, and be sustainable, prosperous, and civilized new countryside-rich farmers.

To achieve this goal, the role of enterprises investing in agriculture will be the ones that lead the Vietnamese agricultural industry to move forward step by step.

Long An focused on the strong, drastic, and synchronous direction of solutions to effectively implement the agricultural development program with high technology applications and restructuring the agricultural sector, creating a breakthrough in the province's agricultural production. The province's agricultural industry has experienced outstanding growth. Many key products, such as bananas, lemons, dragon fruit, rice.etc., are exported to markets such as the US, Australia, Europe, Korea, Japan, and China.

Harmony between businesses and farmers

In 2023, the Prime Minister assigned the agricultural sector an export turnover target of US$55 billion. To achieve this target, the agricultural industry must actively grasp market fluctuations and have flexible solutions to achieve the set goals. Accordingly, high-tech agriculture development is an inevitable trend for Vietnam's agricultural sector, but this field is less attractive for businesses to invest in.

At the forum, experts said that provinces and cities must continue to study and perfect specific mechanisms and policies to attract investment in high-tech agriculture. Management agencies must consider means and guidelines to support enterprises and farmers in high-tech agriculture.

Also, the delegates proposed and recommended removing difficulties in attracting investment in agriculture, building a sustainable agricultural ecosystem, and linking investors (the state, investors, farmers, banks), scientists, and distributors in research, application, and bringing products to the market.

According to Mr. Vo Quan Huy, Director of Huy Long An Co., Ltd., although agriculture is developing, there are still many difficulties in the price of input materials and unstable product output.

Mr. Doan Quoc Quan, Deputy Head of the Marketing and Communication Department, PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemicals Corporation, proposed: to change fertilizer products and the fertilizer industry in general from those that are not subject to value-added tax to subject to value-added tax, the tax rate of 5%, then first bring a lot of benefits, ensuring equality between domestic and foreign goods. Second, farmers can buy products at lower prices. The third is to help domestic enterprises increase their competitiveness and be able to spend more resources on new development investment projects.

At the forum, Minister Le Minh Hoan mentioned the development mindset instead of the growth mindset, in which both are investing in opening the chain of goods and paying attention to cooperatives and farmers' life for sustainable production and social stability. We develop hotly, chase production growth, trade-off resources, environment, biodiversity, ecosystem, all of that should be from future generations. If not, the problem of harmonious business and sustainable development cannot be solved.

Minister Le Minh Hoan suggested that the local authorities continue to review and complete the planning for high-tech agricultural development in an open direction, with preferential policies for enterprises to invest in hi-tech agricultural zones and encourage farmers to apply high-technology in agricultural production. Provinces, cities, and business communities need to absorb the recommendations of experts and scientists to have more new directions to help agriculture have more breakthrough achievements and achieve sustainable values.