According to vnexpress.net
On the morning of June 8, explaining to the National Assembly on the fields of agriculture, farmers and rural areas, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh said that Vietnam has not been proactive in important inputs for agricultural production, which are plant varieties, livestock, raw materials for the production of animal feed, fertilizers and supplies. This increases production costs.
Statistics show that Vietnam has to import raw materials for animal feed production up to 60%. Of the 10 billion USD imported feed materials in 2021, there are 10 million tons of corn and 5 million tons of soybean meal. In addition, fertilizer must also be imported to more than 40%, 1.54 million tons in 2021, worth 1.45 billion USD. Plant varieties and livestock are also mainly imported.
Export of agricultural products in the first 5 months of 2022 reached 23 billion USD, with the main products being pepper (first in the world), coffee (second in the world), rice (3 million tons), seafood … “These are very encouraging results, continuing to affirm that agriculture is always the backbone of the economy”, Mr. Thanh said.
Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh. Image: Hoang Phong
However, Vietnam’s agriculture still faces difficulties in exporting, especially to a large market that requires high quality. The main reason is that there are not many large-scale, high-tech concentrated agricultural production areas that can meet market conditions.
Enterprises investing in the field of agricultural product processing are still limited. Agricultural products, especially vegetables and fruits, are still mainly exported to China by unofficial channels. “The situation of good harvests, devaluation, and congestion of agricultural products for export at the northern border gates occur regularly every year, causing a lot of economic and social damage,” Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh stated. status.
Therefore, in the coming time, the Government will innovate agricultural production and business, from the research and breeding stage to the planning and construction of standard material areas; forming large-scale agricultural production areas; applying science and technology to have clean, high-quality agricultural products that meet international standards for export.
Vietnam will step up trade promotion, negotiate conditions on technical and trade barriers so that agricultural products can soon be officially exported to large and valuable markets such as Europe, the US and China. This solution is also aimed at reducing small-scale exports across the northern border, limiting the congestion of agricultural products as in the past.
The Government will promote the mechanism of credit support, fee and tax exemption and reduction to attract enterprises to invest in the production of agricultural materials and fertilizers; especially encouraging investment in agricultural product processing, overcoming seasonal surplus.
Agencies will review and assess the overall demand for raw materials for processing animal feed and animal feed. From there, the Government will plan to build production areas to serve the animal feed industry. Vietnam is gradually self-sufficient in supply, reducing imports so as not to be too dependent on the world market, and reducing input costs for agricultural production.
National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue pointed out that it is unreasonable when a year exports about 3 billion USD of rice, but has to import 9-10 billion USD of raw materials to make animal feed and other agricultural materials. . “It is difficult for us to compete with the world, because they produce on a large scale, with very high technology, genetic technology, and high productivity, but we have to reduce a part of our dependence,” said Mr. Hue.
According to a report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development sent to delegates on June 5, the Covid-19 epidemic from 2019, the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict from the beginning of 2022 disrupted supply chains, pushing material prices go up. While input materials for agricultural production of Vietnam mainly depend on imports. Therefore, raw materials, inputs, production costs, agricultural product prices all increased.
Fertilizer prices increased the most, for example, urea increased 136-143%, DAP increased 143-164%, potassium increased 180-200% compared to December 2021. The price of raw materials for animal feed increased by 30-45%; finished animal feed prices increased by 30-35% compared to the end of 2021. Producing veterinary drugs and vaccines faced many difficulties.
The price of 0.05S diesel oil increased by over 8,000 VND/liter, causing fuel costs to increase by 2,640 billion VND/month, causing sea transportation costs to increase. The price of pesticides is relatively stable, only increasing in the group of non-selective herbicides and pesticides.
