Minister Le Minh Hoan commits to answer all farmers' questions

"Before attending today's forum, I sent many books, including business cards, to the delegates. I hope that if you have any problems or want to confide in me, please send me a message. I will definitely read and respond," Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan told nearly 200 delegates attending the 9th National Farmers' Forum, with the theme "Listening to farmers speak".

Minister Le Minh Hoan said the plan to organize this forum originated after the Prime Minister's Dialogue Conference with Farmers in Son La in May 2022.

Through contact with farmers in many regions across the country, the commander of the agricultural sector realized that there is a lot of information from them that can spread, motivate, and inspire "colleagues" across the country.

Taking the people's determination as an example, Minister Le Minh Hoan said he was "moved" to witness the continuous and relentless rise in the northern provinces after storm No.3.

Directly inspecting, checking, and being on duty in Quang Ninh - the first place where storm No. 3 made landfall, as well as feeling the devastation of the super storm - the Minister felt heartbroken when thousands of billions of dong of farmers' money were swept away in the blink of an eye.

"It took many years for people to establish large-scale marine farming cooperatives. But after one night, everything was lost," Minister Le Minh Hoan recalled, but he was also optimistic that it was not the "keyword" heard most after storm No.3.

The leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also witnessed with their own eyes the farmers of Hai Duong, sowing and planting winter crops just about a week after the storm passed. Minister Le Minh Hoan also saw the tireless efforts of the people in Yen Bai and Cao Bang - the areas that suffered the heaviest human losses after the storm - but still gradually rebuilt infrastructure and stabilized their new lives.

"Thank you to the farmers for maintaining your determination, not being discouraged, and giving that spirit to those who do management work like us", the Minister shared and committed that all messages from the people (if he could not respond in time in the forum on the morning of October 14) would be considered and forwarded to local leaders, possibly the Provincial Party Secretary, the Provincial People's Committee Chairman, or the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for timely support.

The 9th National Farmers' Forum is one of the main events of the 2024 Vietnamese Farmers' Pride Program chaired by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union; assigned to Nong Thon Ngay Nay/Dan Viet Newspaper in coordination with Binh Dien Fertilizer Joint Stock Company and Agribank to organize.

At this Forum, for the first time, the President of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development co-chaired and listened to the thoughts, aspirations, and recommendations from 126 outstanding farmers and typical cooperatives across the country.

Thanking Minister Le Minh Hoan for his sharing, Chairman Luong Quoc Doan emphasized: “The Forum is an opportunity for the Central level to listen to the difficulties and obstacles in the fields of agriculture, farmers and rural areas; at the same time, propose, reflect, and wish. On that basis, we will synthesize and recommend the Party and State to have specific policies to support and encourage farmers to participate in production enthusiastically”.

Through synthesizing opinions, farmers are currently concerned about several issues such as Reconstruction and production recovery after natural disasters caused by storm No. 3 and recent floods, in which significant issues such as support for plants, seeds, agricultural inputs, agricultural insurance support policies; especially the need to create conditions for debt forgiveness, debt extension and new capital loans for households directly affected by recent storms and floods, helping farmers quickly restore production.

In addition, there are issues about mechanisms and policies to promote green, sustainable agricultural production, reduce emissions towards the goal of net emissions of "0", and issues about production planning.

Many farmers are also interested in the mechanism and policies to support and encourage farmers, including good farmers in production and business through the activities of Farmers' Associations at all levels, to continue to innovate the forms of organization and activities of farmer members such as establishing farmers' clubs, promoting the effectiveness and role of branches and professional associations as the basis and foundation for establishing cooperatives and cooperatives; issues of support, building agricultural product brands, promoting agricultural products on digital platforms.

The National Farmers' Forum is an annual event chaired by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Association, assigned to the newspaper Nong Thon Ngay Nay/Dan Viet to organize. Up to now, the Forum has been organized 8 times.