Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Building agro-forestry-fishery high value chains iscrucial for the sustainable development of the agriculture sector in thecontext of international integration, experts have said.

Agriculture remains the major source of food despite the sector’s fallingcontributions to GDP – from nearly 40 percent in the 1990s to less than 15 percentby the end of 2018.

According to deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission,Cao Duc Phat, it is important to strengthen connectivity to develop valuechains for strong farm produce in Vietnam, and promote investment inagriculture and rural areas amid international integration.

He noted that among 500,000 operating enterprises, only 6,000 work inagriculture. Vietnam has 10 million farming households with small and microproduction scales compared to other countries, he added.

The official stressed the need to boost the role of household production andbusinesses, especially private firms.

Participants at the event put forward various proposals to improve the linksbetween parties in agricultural production, including developing big firms tomotivate the production and the formation of databases foragro-forestry-fishery products.

According to Le Duc Thinh, head of the Department of Cooperatives and RuralDevelopment under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, only 11-14percent of agricultural products have been sold through the connections ofparties, and only 3-5 percent sold through connection chains with safeagricultural practices such as VietGap and GlobalGap.

He underscored the necessity to train farmers on production standards and raisetheir public awareness of enhancing farm produce quality.

Vice President of the Vietnam Co-operative Alliance, Nguyen Van Thinh, saidthat it is crucial to amend the 2012 Law on Cooperatives and the Land Law todeal with problems in land accumulation for production development, whilebuilding models for cooperatives associated with key products of each locality.Cooperatives themselves should reform and improve their capacity to meetintegration and linkage requirements.

Nguyen Ngoc Dan, chairman of smart online monitoring company United, proposedthe training of agricultural workers by opening courses for farmers to masterthe cultivation of particular plants with the support of the local government.

It is necessary to set specific requirements for connection chains withdetailed mechanisms and benefits of each member, he stressed.

Deputy General Director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Bank, Le Xuan Trung,stressed the need to strengthen the role of the provincial People’s Committeesin chain development, while monitoring and supporting local firms to join thechains, and providing risk and price insurance for members of the chains toreduce their losses.

Thai Huong, founder of TH Group said in reality, in times of crisis, agricultureis the lifesaver of the economy.

Therefore, she proposed to consider the building of high value chains in theagriculture sector, meeting requirements of key markets as one of the targetsby 2025 to create a breakthrough.

She proposed to implement some pilot projects under the value chain whilehaving leading firms group in the sector to develop policies.-VNS/VNA