(VOVworld) – This year the Vietnamese government will emphasize  the economic restructuring and changing the growth model to ensure sustainability and stability. The agricultural restructuring is a key part of a larger plan aimed at improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the country’s agricultural sector during Vietnam’s international integration. VOV’s To Tuan reports….

Credit investment in agricultural and rural economic areas will be increased in the near future (Photo: dantri.com.vn)

Agriculture plays a key role in boosting Vietnam’s economic growth, especially exports. Vietnam has become the world’s leading rice exporter. Last year, Vietnam had eight agricultural, forestry, and aquatic export products which earned 1 billion USD. This was an impressive figure in the current difficult economic period. But what makes people continue to worry about Vietnam’s agricultural success is that it hasn’t increased revenues from exported goods. This is forcing Vietnam to learn more about global trends in agriculture. The restructuring can be successful if it is coordinated with the government’s overall economic restructuring plan, which involves changes in public investment, improvements in the management and use of public investment, reforms of state-owned enterprises, and involvement of all social development resources. Cao Duc Phat, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said ‘In recent years, the National Assembly and government have strictly implemented a policy of doubling every 5 years allocations from the state budget for developing agriculture, farmers, and rural areas.  To ensure sustainable growth for agriculture and rural areas, Vietnam has pursued uniform measures to attract more investment in these fields from various economic sectors and foreign investors.’

The agricultural sector is trying to increase mechanization to reduce manual labor and post-harvest losses and to build brands for Vietnamese agricultural items. The model to boost incomes in Lam Cot commune, Tan Yen district, Bac Giang province, has proven the effectiveness of mobilizing all resources for investment restructuring in agriculture. Duong Anh Tuan, Deputy President of Lam Cot’s People’s Committee, said ‘To realize a model to grow potatoes as winter crops and rezone rice fields, the commune’s authorities have outlined policies to boost consumption, provide each farm household a small amount of money from the local budget to help them acquire seeds, fertilizers, and technical instruction. Meanwhile local farmers will buy farm machinery for ploughing and sowing. Local farmers have responded enthusiastically as the administration has helped them land contracts with businesses to buy their products.’

Lam Cot’s example illustrates the advantage of linking private enterprises and farmers to increase agricultural production. Minister Cao Duc Phat suggested ‘In order to attract private investment in agricultural and rural development, it’s important to create a fairer environment for enterprises to operate efficiently. A fair environment means policy, mechanisms, administrative reforms, improved infrastructure, and public services.’

The restructuring of national agriculture should give more attention to modernizing aquaculture and husbandry while the forestry sector should focus on developing the forest economy. To implement the restructuring of each specific agricultural industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should encourage the development of production models in line with practical requirements.

To Tuan