Although the first 5 months of 2023, the export value of agricultural, forestry and fishery products still decreased by over 11% compared to the same period last year, but the reduction is gradually shrinking.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien shared with the VNA reporter about many solutions being proposed by the agricultural sector to ensure the completion of the target for the first 6 months of the year as well as for the whole year of 2023.
– Would the Deputy Minister evaluate the results achieved by the agricultural sector in the first 5 months of 2023?
Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien: Export Agriculture, forestry and fisheries have made positive changes. This is shown by statistics. Specifically, in January, exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products decreased by over 68% compared to the same period last year, partly due to the Lunar New Year holiday this month. In February, export value decreased by 38.4%; in March, it decreased by nearly 30% and in April it decreased by 13.3% and in May it decreased to 11.1%. In the first 5 months of 2023, the total export turnover of agriculture, forestry and fishery is estimated at 20.26 billion USD.
With this recovery momentum, it is expected that the export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products by the end of the third quarter will be equal to that of the third quarter of 2022 and in the fourth quarter may accelerate growth. With many solutions, the agricultural industry will reach 55 billion USD in 2023.
In terms of production organization, agriculture still faces many difficulties such as high input prices, climate change causing drought, saltwater intrusion, etc., but thanks to the drastic direction from the end of 2022, production Agriculture, forestry and fishery are basically stable. The industry ensures food and food security; food safety, contributing to stabilizing the macro-economy, ensuring major balances of the economy.
For example, by the middle of May, the whole country had planted nearly 4,255,800 hectares of rice, down 1.5% over the same period last year, but thanks to productivity. paddy increased by 1 quintal/ha, so the output reached 17.46 million tons, up 0.7%. Food security is a challenge for many countries, but Vietnam is fully proactive. Besides, Vietnam also exported nearly 3.9 million tons of rice with a value of 2.02 billion USD, up 40.8% in volume and 49% in value over the same period in 2022.
Livestock production faces high feed prices, but thanks to good disease control, production can still meet the requirements. The herd of cows increased by about 1.2%; pig herd increased by 2.6%; poultry flock increased by 1.3%; only buffalo herd decreased about 2% over the same period last year.
Seafood also had a good growth rate of 1.4%, reaching over 3.4 million tons. Growth comes mainly from aquaculture; in which shrimp, catfish all grow well.
The key commodities of the agricultural sector still have growth in production but it is still slow. Leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will have specific instructions to ensure industry growth in 2023.
– Up to now, exporting seafood, especially shrimp and pangasius; wood and wood products still have a rather deep decrease. How does the Deputy Minister assess this situation?
Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien: Through the assessment of each commodity, each market, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development found that the export of wood and non-timber forest products has a slow recovery, and seafood is also slow. These are items that are greatly affected by world market demand.
Products with fast growth rate, good international market demand, especially the Chinese market such as rice, coffee, vegetables, cashew nuts, etc., Vietnam is making good use of.
With forest and aquatic products, it is necessary to restructure the market and expand the consumption market. In the market structure, there is a big change, such as the US market in 2022, accounting for 26.4% of export value, but currently over 20%; China, when COVID-19 accounted for 17%, has increased by 21%…
In the face of market fluctuations, the agricultural sector will strengthen trade promotion with each category of goods and each market. Leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have assigned leaders of units to focus on trade promotion for traditional and potential markets such as the US, China, Japan, EU… with Vietnamese products. South has the advantage. At the same time, promote negotiations to diversify agricultural products that are officially exported to many markets.
Processing pangasius for export at the factory of Sao Mai Group, An Giang province. Photo: Vu Sinh/VNA
– Facing difficulties in production as well as challenges from the consumer market, what solutions will the agricultural sector have to respond, Deputy Minister?
Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien: Facing the world’s difficulties and challenges, the economy and aggregate demand decreased a lot, many aviation industries had orders. Many industries, people labor working only a few days a month, affecting the income of workers, so the demand for living and consumption decreases.
While the risk of disease outbreak in livestock is great; It is forecasted that drought will continue to clearly affect agricultural production. But, having recognized the challenges as well as assessing the advantages and potentials, the industry has come up with flexible response solutions.
For example, rice yield is largely determined by the last 25 days before harvest. If you do not know the season, do not direct drastically when sowing, it will be difficult to ensure food production.
In animal husbandry, in addition to strengthening the replication of biosafety and disease-free breeding models, the industry deploys channels to closely monitor the market for raw materials, supply and prices of animal feed ingredients. Livestock breeds should take timely measures to avoid price spikes. At the same time, research and propose a plan to build areas for the production of animal feed ingredients such as maize, cassava, etc., focusing on a number of potential areas such as the Central Highlands and the Northern mountainous region.
To ensure the target of the 2023 plan on fisheries, the industry will promptly direct aquaculture production in response to weather changes and market demand. At the same time, continue to coordinate with localities to strictly implement solutions to combat illegal fishing.
All stages from seed, cultivation process, care, veterinary medicine to preliminary processing, packaging, etc. must be smooth to improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products and overcome the immediate difficulties. and long-term so that Vietnam has ecological agriculture, modern countryside and civilized farmers.
Thank you Minister!
According to VietnamBiz.vn
