The market fluctuates every hour, farmers should not be forever proud of their experience but must change the way they work and link businesses to go to the big sea, according to Minister Le Minh Hoan.
The message was emphasized by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan in an interview VnExpress occasion the begin of the year.
– What are the bright spots of the agricultural sector in the past year, Minister?
– As the Prime Minister once said, last year the agricultural sector overcame headwinds. The first six months of the year faced many difficulties, but we were proactive, flexible, and adapted to external fluctuations and events.
2023 is the year agricultural economic thinking spreads. We have adapted to the difficulties of output by standardizing agricultural products to suit many markets. Localities are very active in organizing many events to promote local agricultural products, focusing more on the domestic market in addition to the export market. It is the domestic market that will balance the situation when exports are difficult.
Vietnam has also signed an agricultural export protocol, thereby reorganizing the industry, especially durian fruit. Farmers and businesses began to connect more closely. I use the word starting to mean there is still a lot of room for improvement in this chain of links.
In particular, 2023 marks an agricultural export surplus of 12 billion USD, accounting for nearly 50% of Vietnam’s export surplus balance. In the past, we paid little attention to the surplus number, but this data clearly shows growth. Surplus is the problem between selling price and input materials. Unlike the export surplus in the FDI sector, the agricultural surplus brings a lot of profit to the country and farmers.
Not all areas in the industry are “rosy”, but it is clear that farmers who grow rice, durian, and fruit trees have a more excited Tet this year.
Harvesting durian in Cai Lay town, Tien Giang. Image: Hoang Nam
– The agricultural sector has achieved many positive results, but there is still a situation where farmers’ production is uncertain and there is a lack of forecasting, so the supply of some products is greater than the demand, and prices fluctuate erratically. What is the solution to get out of this situation?
– Many farmers produce too small. Each person buys their own package of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides… so they are easily affected by price fluctuations. Meanwhile, if they link together, they will create a large raw material area and buy and sell together. This is the principle that any era and country seeks to follow. The production area is small, but people should not be fragmented in how they do it. If you want to go to the big sea, farmers should not take a small boat but join many canoes to overcome the waves and winds.
Another thing I want to emphasize is that farmers should not be forever proud of their experience. People’s experience is only relevant when times change slowly, but now the market is developing every hour. Flower growers are not only in Sa Dec, mangoes are not only in the West or only in our country. Daily market fluctuations make direction and management have to be flexible to keep up, but sometimes it doesn’t work right away. “It’s difficult to fight a nearby fire in a distant country,” so first of all, farmers need to unite and help each other overcome difficulties.
In terms of macro, we must reorganize the industry from producers to businesses. The recent disruption and instability in some industries means that producers and businesses have not found a common voice, leading to competition in selling and buying. Local authorities need to be closer and help farmers more. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is having a training program for local leaders, especially commune-level officials closest to the people.
In the past, localities supported people in production, but now they need to focus on the market. Every time a protocol is signed, opening a new market, local authorities need to predict problems that will occur in their raw material areas. After that, invite people to discuss and work together to implement the standards required by partners.
If we want the agricultural industry to grow, we must change farmers. We cannot blame farmers because they are too familiar with the production practice of many generations, just planting and waiting for traders to buy, or traders to order before planting. Therefore, those closest to farmers, from the secretary, commune chairman to mass organizations, need to help them, share concerns and dialogue to create a spillover effect.
Farmers in Nga Nam town, Soc Trang, harvest rice. Image: Nguyet Nhi
– When production is small and fragmented, traders are considered an important link in the agricultural industry, but are not well organized. How to professionalize this team to create more benefits for farmers?
– I wonder that when agricultural product prices are low, public opinion thinks that traders are forcing prices. This is unreasonable because if they have that right, why don’t they keep the price cheap? So are we being too emotional and quickly blaming the traders?
First of all, it must be confirmed that traders are also farmers. They are people with a talent for business and capital, starting from small businesses and working their way up. With a fragmented agriculture, spontaneous growers cannot bring a few hundred kilograms of agricultural products to Saigon for consumption. The business man cannot visit each growing household to purchase but must go through traders and warehouses to classify. The trader system is to share capital, warehouses, and risks with businesses.
Agriculture cannot remain fragmented forever. Traders sell to warehouses, warehouses sell to businesses. Therefore, businesses need to consider and bring traders into their “ecosystem”. Why don’t we organize and build in each commune a group of traders, and in each district a club or association of traders. If you continue to be averse and neglectful, traders will operate outside, without direction and as a result, there will still be market corruption.
– How is cooperation and linkage between farmers, traders and businesses being implemented by the agricultural sector?
– The Ministry is reorganizing raw material areas. In that raw material area, we will reorganize the industry, develop qualified cooperatives, and improve the knowledge and capacity of farmers to be able to link with businesses. This is to prevent floating contracts and limit risks for the industry.
Recently, the Ministry coordinated with the parties to implement a project of one million hectares of high quality rice with the aim of positioning the image of rice in the Mekong Delta, gradually moving towards the image of the country’s rice industry and agricultural industries. other products.
The project moves from production thinking to economic thinking, gradually approaching green growth agriculture. Because today consumers do not buy a product anymore, but buy how to create that product and care about whether the production process harms the environment and society.
In addition to increasing the value and quality of rice grains, the project also aims at many other goals such as helping rice growers take advantage of agricultural by-products; create many products to activate the rural economy; Agricultural tourism… If we do these things well, it will help farmers increase their income 2-3 times compared to just growing rice.
According to VnExpress.net
