According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, it is necessary to have a longer vision, build sustainable industry chain links, link businesses to create markets, and apply science and technology to That changes the face of the entire agricultural industry.
In recent years, the agricultural sector has played a supporting role in the Vietnamese economy. Agricultural GDP growth in 2023 is estimated to reach 3.83%, the highest level in the past 10 years. Agricultural, forestry and fishery export turnover always remains high with 10 product groups with export value reaching 1 billion USD or more.
The year 2023 marks an important milestone, the first time in history that Vietnam exported over 8 million tons of rice with a total value of 4.8 billion USD. There are 78% of communes meeting new rural standards, 20 provinces/cities have 100% of communes meeting new rural standards, and 5 provinces are recognized by the Prime Minister for completing the task of building new rural areas.
However, the agricultural sector still faces many challenges such as the issue of “greening” in agriculture, shifting from production thinking to economic thinking of farmers and businesses…
Vietnam’s agricultural land area averages 0.27 hectares/person, while Thailand’s is 0.56 hectares/person. In European countries, this ratio is up to 7 – 10 hectares per production household. In fact, the smaller the scale, the greater the cost.
Regarding this challenge, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan shared at the 2023 Vietnam Farmers Dialogue Conference at the end of December 2023, Vietnamese agriculture cannot compete if it does not connect from small gardens. to become a large landowner. “If farmers do not have the capacity and do not sit together at a collective economic round table, it will be very difficult to develop,” Minister Le Minh Hoan said.
According to the Minister, if farmers can link up and the cooperative is strong enough, the business community is always ready to create raw material areas, for example in Central Highlands coffee, businesses will invest in additional support for machinery. mechanization, coffee storage warehouses… Enterprises are also the ones who bring agricultural products to the market, while the State plays the role of a bridge and creates suitable conditions.
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During a meeting and information exchange with the press at the end of December 2023, Minister Le Minh Hoan also emphasized that if you want to increase product value, you must shift from agricultural production thinking to economic thinking. Agriculture, it is necessary to make sure that each unit of agricultural area can create more wealth.
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Minister Le Minh Hoan said that, If a farmer raises or grows something but only receives income from that product, it is not in the spirit of Resolution 19-NQ/TW of the Party Central Committee, term XIII. Therefore, the agricultural sector needs to shift from single-value growth to multi-value growth, creating many other industries.
The agricultural industry will not only go on one path but also need to integrate with other industries and fields to diversify products, bring high-quality products, and increase economic value for farmers.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development analyzed that the untapped intangible things of the agricultural sector can bring higher value than the existing tangible things, growing rice but not necessarily selling rice, like the 1 million hectares of quality rice project. high quality associated with circular agriculture from rice stalks, rice hulls, ash, and rice husks, turning the rice industry into a multi-value, circular integrated commodity industry.
“For example, when doing agricultural tourism, Taiwanese farmers have increased their income 6-10 times, even several dozen times. In Dong Thap, Sa Dec flower village used to only sell flowers on Tet and full moon days, but now it has also narrowed its space to serve as a stop for tourists,” Minister Le Minh Hoan gave an example.
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On the other hand, association in cooperatives can bring preferential prices due to large purchases, helping to increase profits for farmers. We need to look at the structure of the industry in more ways, to encourage people to join cooperatives, buy together, sell together, enjoy common services, to have income from many different segments, not just from agriculture. aquaculture products, thereby avoiding fragmentation, smallness, and spontaneity in production.
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Minister Le Minh Hoan in the press meeting at the end of December 2023 also raised challenges for the agricultural industry when the world is constantly changing, consumers today not only buy products but they also buy stories. of farmers, of a commodity industry. They care more about how the product is made, whether the product’s origin uses child labor or not, whether it has an environmental impact or causes climate change.
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Even in the issue of IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities), before applying to seafood exporters to the European Union (EU), this market was required to Domestic businesses comply first. However, when internal businesses increase costs for their products according to regulations, external export businesses are not under the pressure of those regulations, causing the EU to apply them to exporting countries as well. to create fairer game rules.
Or in the matter of the European Union’s non-deforestation regulations (EUDR), currently the import market will trace the origin of Vietnamese wood, coffee, and rubber whether they are related to deforestation or not. In the future, the EU will continue to trace the source of imported wood materials in this regard. These things pose problems that force farmers to change to keep up with that trend.
Minister Le Minh Hoan assessed that Vietnam’s agriculture is behind the pace compared to the world. Vietnam is proud of delicious agricultural products such as coffee, mangoes…, but quality is not the deciding factor, but only a necessary condition as deliciousness will depend on the consumption culture of each country. . Therefore, if changes are slow while other markets are still developing, Vietnamese agricultural production will lag behind other countries.
According to Mekongasean.vn
