Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien emphasized that agricultural development must go hand in hand with environmental protection and rational use of natural resources.
At the Forum “Agricultural restructuring – solutions for effective and sustainable development of agricultural value chains” organized by the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance on the morning of August 28, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien shared that implementing the restructuring policy, the agricultural sector has achieved many important achievements, maintaining high growth (in 2023, it increased by 3.83%, higher than the level assigned by the Government). Many industry value chains have been formed and developed strongly. Vietnamese agricultural products have been present in international markets, including demanding markets such as the US, EC, Japan, etc.
Forms of cooperation and production linkages according to value chains are developed in accordance with the production conditions of regions, sub-regions and localities to increase product value. Through linkages, many enterprises have established sustainable relationships between production and processing, creating stable raw material areas.
There have been many production models with high economic value throughout the country, such as: High-tech agricultural models for rice, fruits, flowers, livestock, aquaculture, forestry products, etc.; large-field models; specialized concentrated fruit gardens in Can Tho with an average revenue of 500 million VND/ha/year; Hoa Loc sand mango area with an output of 10,000 tons/year; super-intensive shrimp farming in Bac Lieu with a yield of 80 tons/ha/year and a revenue of 9.2 billion VND/ha…
Thanks to that, along with trade promotion activities, the agricultural market has been constantly expanded, agricultural exports have shifted strongly to official channels and have been present in more than 196 countries and territories (ranked 2nd in Southeast Asia and 15th in the world). The total export turnover of agriculture, forestry and fishery products in the period of 2021 – 2023 is over 155 billion USD, and is expected to reach 55 – 56 billion USD in 2024. Of which, there are 11 groups of products with export turnover of 1 billion USD or more, 6 products with export turnover of over 3 billion USD..
On that basis, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien noted that in the coming time, to improve efficiency and sustainably develop the agricultural value chain, it is necessary to focus on restructuring the agricultural sector substantially and effectively in the direction of innovating the structure of crops and livestock; focusing on key products with high competitive advantages; promoting research and application of science and technology in agricultural production; developing production in the direction of organic and safe; developing high-tech agriculture; applying biotechnology in selecting and creating plant and animal breeds; producing biological fertilizers and pesticides; applying information technology and automation in management and production.
According to Ms. Cao Xuan Thu Van, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, the effective and sustainable development of agricultural value chains is a vital issue in agricultural restructuring. Photo: Trung Quan.
In addition, training and improving the quality of human resources in the agricultural sector; perfecting and adjusting support policies and encouraging the development of agricultural cooperatives, especially new-style cooperatives. Developing consumer markets, promoting trade, searching and expanding export markets for Vietnamese agricultural products.
At the same time, sustainable agricultural development must go hand in hand with environmental protection and rational use of natural resources. Strengthen the application of advanced technical measures and technologies in the management and effective use of land and water resources. Develop and implement green agricultural programs and projects to protect the environment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sustainably use natural resources…
Ms. Cao Xuan Thu Van, President of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, assessed that in the first 8 months of 2024, agricultural, forestry, and fishery production activities nationwide continued to have many bright spots. This partly confirms that the restructuring of agriculture is on the right track, with extremely important contributions from the cooperative economic sector with more than 20,000 agricultural cooperatives and tens of thousands of agricultural cooperative groups, with over 3.8 million cooperative members who are farmers.
Currently, the country has over 4,000 cooperatives participating in value chain linkages (accounting for nearly 13% of the total number of cooperatives). Effective and sustainable development of agricultural value chains is a vital issue in agricultural restructuring to meet the international market that continues to expand with Vietnam.
The workshop was attended by many experts and management agencies. Photo: Trung Quan.
However, according to the Chairman of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, there are still many limitations and certain challenges for the sustainable development of the agricultural value chain. In particular, the biggest limitation at present is the loose linkage between actors in the same stage (horizontal linkage) as well as between stages (vertical linkage) in the value chain.
Therefore, in the solutions to develop a sustainable and effective agricultural value chain, the core role of agricultural cooperatives is indispensable. In the coming time, agricultural cooperatives need to continue to improve the quality and efficiency of operations in the direction of sustainable development; apply science and technology, innovation and digital transformation.
In particular, with the trend of green agricultural product consumption in domestic and foreign markets, “greening” agriculture is not a burden but an opportunity. Therefore, the subjects in the chain must aim to apply new standards and adjust chain operations accordingly.
According to Nongnghiep.vn
