Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong: ‘The countryside is changing’

Presenting the presentation of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at the discussion session of the XIII Congress on the afternoon of January 27, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that the national target program to build new rural areas reached the finish line first.

The annual average income per capita in rural areas increases faster than the income growth rate of urban residents, from 12.8 million VND in 2010 to 43 million VND/person in 2020;

According to Mr. Cuong, in recent years agriculture has not only continued to affirm its role as a pillar, but also grown to become a dynamic economic sector, developing sustainably, deeply participating in integration.

`Especially when the socio-economic situation is difficult due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, agriculture has firmly ensured national food security, with a high export surplus bringing a lot of foreign currency to the country, creating

In the period 2016 – 2020, the total export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products reached more than 190 billion USD, in 2020 alone it reached over 41 billion USD;

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

The agricultural product processing industry is developing rapidly with the application of high technology, increasing the added value of agricultural products.

Currently, Vietnamese agricultural products have reached over 196 countries and territories, including demanding markets such as the United States, Japan, EU… Total export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in the period 2016 – 2020

`Vietnam has entered the first group in Southeast Asia and ranks 15th in the world in terms of exporting agriculture, forestry and fishery products,` Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said and affirmed that in the coming years, agriculture will still be Vietnam’s strength.

However, Vietnam’s agricultural sector is facing many challenges, such as production on a small, fragmented and household scale, and this is a bottleneck in international integration, reducing competitiveness and difficulties in

In addition, Vietnam is one of the 5 countries most vulnerable to climate change, occurring in all 7 socio-economic regions, of which key agricultural production areas are most vulnerable.

Faced with the new context and requirements with mixed advantages, opportunities, difficulties and challenges, the agricultural sector will focus on raising awareness about `focused, large-scale commodity agricultural development`.

Land policy will be improved in the direction of strict management and improving the efficiency of agricultural land use, protecting the rights of farmers;

Also related to the agricultural sector, Mr. Tran Duc Quan, Secretary of Lam Dong Provincial Party Committee, said that in recent years, the province’s agriculture has had remarkable development in scale, productivity, value, and income.

Lam Dong is also one of the leading localities in the country in agriculture applying high technology, smart agriculture and a strongly developed agricultural production force with the model of `enterprise is the core, applying science`.

`In our locality, a new generation of farmers has appeared, daring to think and do things, boldly applying science and technology, investing capital, proactively exploiting the market, linking production to create value chains,

Sharing the experience of converting from `agricultural production thinking` to `agricultural economic thinking`, Mr. Le Quoc Phong, Secretary of Dong Thap Provincial Party Committee, said that forming a new thinking requires

The leadership and management method in the `agricultural economic thinking` mechanism must ensure compliance with the law of supply and demand, developing all three markets including the spot market and the business-to-business (B2B) market.

Besides, it is necessary to select and develop stages with high added value in the value chain;

`Officers at all levels need to regularly go into the field, contact and meet with businesses, farmers, and cooperatives through conversations and seminars to orient, listen and remove difficulties and obstacles in the field.`

Hoang Thuy