Export value of agricultural products increases by 6.3%

Many impressive results

At the conference, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Manh, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production, provided information that in 2024, the effects of climate change became increasingly evident, with extreme weather phenomena such as tornadoes, droughts, floods, etc., increasing in both frequency and intensity.

Typhoon No. 3 (Yagi) caused serious consequences for crop production in 26 Northern provinces and cities, affecting 285,000 hectares of seasonal rice, 61,000 hectares of crops, and 39,000 hectares of fruit trees.

Drought and saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta, Southeast, and Central Highlands regions caused damage to about 43,000 hectares of plants. Of which, 190 hectares reduced productivity by over 70%; nearly 12,000 hectares decreased productivity by 30–70%; and more than 31,000 hectares reduced productivity by less than 30%.

However, with the close direction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), localities have proactively built early and timely production plans with specific, flexible solutions, closely following production reality. From there, quickly respond and overcome damage caused by natural disasters and restore production effectively.

The Department of Crop Production has also actively developed and submitted for promulgation a project to develop key industrial crops (coffee, rubber, tea, cashew, pepper, and coconut) by 2030 and sustainably develop the cassava industry by 2030, with a vision to 2050. Advise and submit to the Ministry to issue a Directive on strengthening soil health management towards sustainable crop production. Implement the project for sustainable development of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice in the Mekong Delta by 2030. Additionally, trade promotion and market opening have been enhanced and implemented well, especially for durian and coconut products.

For rice production, the country's total cultivated area reached more than 7 million hectares, with a productivity of 6.1 tons/hectare and an output of more than 43 million tons. Fruit trees have a total area of more than 1.2 million hectares. Basically, the output of fruit trees all increased, but citrus, longan, and lychee decreased (longan decreased by 16.7%). Industrial crops have a total area of more than 2 million hectares; rubber output increased by 7.5%; and the output of pepper and cashew nuts decreased by nearly 3%. Annual crops and vegetables of all kinds increased by over 2%. Sweet potatoes, peanuts, and soybeans decreased in both area and output.

The area of rice land converted to annual crops is more than 76,000 hectares; to perennial crops is more than 23,000 hectares; and to rice farming combined with aquaculture is more than 16,000 hectares. The coffee replanting area in the Central Highlands region is more than 55,000 hectares.

In particular, the growth rate of crop production value is estimated at 1.9%. The export value of agricultural products is over 30 billion USD, increasing by more than 6.3% compared to 2023 and accounting for nearly 50% of agricultural export value (rice of 5.8 billion USD, coffee of 5.5 billion USD, fruits and vegetables of 7.2 billion USD, cashew nuts of 4.3 billion USD, rubber of 3.2 billion USD, etc.).

Regarding the management of plant varieties, the Department of Crop Production has recognized and extended the circulation of 124 plant varieties (74 rice varieties, 18 corn varieties, and 32 fruit and industrial tree varieties). Receive over 2,000 dossiers for self-declaration of circulation of plant varieties; issue 246 certificates and recertify rice types exported to Europe to enjoy preferential tariff quotas. Monitor, inspect, and accept the volume of 13 seed projects under the Seed Program for the 2021-2030 period in the field of crop production. 

Besides, 254 applications for plant variety protection were received, and new plant variety protection certificates were issued for 179 varieties. Suspend 93 plant variety protection certificates due to failure to pay maintenance fees; reissue 10 protection certificates to change owners; restore the validity of protection certificates for 12 plant varieties; and record the transfer and reissue of protection certificates for 6 plant varieties. Localities also issued 1,400 planting area codes to serve the domestic consumption market.

Regarding state reserves, the Department of Crop Production advised MARD to submit to the Government the export of nearly 654 tons of plant varieties to support localities in overcoming the consequences of natural disasters.

Based on the results achieved, in 2025, the crop production industry aims to develop into a complete and professional economic and technical industry, ensuring food security and food safety, increasing export value, and contributing to social stability and national defense and security. The growth rate of production value will reach 2.2%; the export turnover of agricultural products will reach over 33 billion USD; and the output value per hectare of arable land will reach over 130 million VND.

Continue to affirm the position and role of crop production

Appreciating the achievements the crop production industry has achieved in 2024, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Trung emphasized that despite unpredictable natural disasters causing heavy damage to production, with efforts and synchronous participation, the export of crop production still accounts for nearly 50% of the industry's export value. This is an extremely impressive result, affirming the important role of crop production in the overall development of the entire agricultural sector.

On that basis, the Deputy Minister noted that in 2025, in the new context, the organizational structure and personnel of the Department of Crop Production will have many changes. Therefore, the Department's collective leadership, officers, and workers need to continue to promote the spirit of not being afraid of difficulties or hardships, solidarity, unity, intelligence, and creativity to maintain, develop, and bring the field of crop production to higher and more impressive milestones.

In addition, the work of developing legal documents, standards, and regulations needs special attention. This is the basis for other activities to be accelerated, especially continuing to adjust regulations and instructions for implementing the Law on Crop Production to suit production practices.

In parallel with that, closely coordinate with localities to synthesize and specifically evaluate the implementation of strategies, programs, and projects on developing crop production and promptly remove obstacles so that these documents do not still remain on paper but are actually put into practice, bringing value.

In particular, plant varieties are a decisive factor in the success of crop production. In the new year, the Department must actively change the method of seed management, avoiding overlaps and push-pulls between relevant units, both to help control work effectively and to facilitate the rapid introduction of high-quality varieties into production.

At the same time, it is necessary to clearly identify the work of improving soil health and soil nutrition as the task of the crop production sector so that there is a clear assignment of tasks to units. Additionally, in international cooperation, the Department only stopped at participating with other units, leading to fragmentation and low efficiency. Faced with new requirements, the Department needs to proactively expand this activity to mobilize more resources, learn from experiences and advanced methods from other countries to direct production to keep up with trends, and increase competitiveness for agricultural products. 

“When talking about agriculture, we immediately mention production and then other sectors. Therefore, the Department of Crop Production must constantly improve, innovate, and upgrade in all aspects to affirm its important role, together with the entire agricultural sector to reap new miracles," Deputy Minister Hoang Trung emphasized.