Hanoi (VNA)🌞 - Being identified as the backbone of the economy, the agricultural sector has had many shortcomings over the past time, the production scale is still fragmented, lack of linkages, the output for some products is still precarious...

Therefore, at the online discussion session on October 30, many deputies suggested that it is necessary to continue restructuring the agricultural sector, promoting investment in the development of high-quality agriculture, thereby improving the quality, the added value and competitiveness of agricultural products, protection of the ecological environment.

Loose production links

Deputy Tran Van Sau of the Dong Thap province’s National Assembly delegation said that the agricultural sector has recently achieved many important achievements, really supporting the economy during the recent pandemic. In the first nine months of 2021, the export turnover of agricultural products has reached 35 billion USD, an impressive figure. However, according to the deputy, generally speaking, many agricultural fields are still small, fragmented, unconnected, and the consumption market is unstable. Therefore, in order to restructure the agricultural sector, local authorities must popularise, mobilise, guide and gradually change the perception of farmers. The report of the Government and the National Assembly on economic restructuring plan for the period 2021-2025 also emphasizes that agricultural production will shift to focus on industries with higher added value and with diversified export markets, becoming the 2nd largest exporter of agricultural products in Southeast Asia and the 15th in the world. At the same time, agricultural labor productivity increased rapidly, on average 6.8% a year in the 2016-2020 period. However, according to deputy Duong Khac Mai of the Dak Nong province’s National Assembly delegation, the investment in the agricultural sector has not focused highly on the direction of restructuring the agricultural economy and developing high-tech agriculture; while this is a very important task in order to increase the value and develop sustainable agriculture.

Promoting efficiency and regional advantages

Currently, Vietnam is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, which negatively affecting agricultural production. Looking at the reality of the Mekong Delta provinces, deputy Le Minh Nam of the National Assembly delegation of Hau Giang province suggested the Government should pay attention to invest in preventing and limiting the adverse effects of the weather; develop solutions to proactively restructure agricultural production, forecast and give early warning in order to choose the direction to adapt to nature for sustainable development and pay attention to investment in developing logistics infrastructure, storage warehouses to promote the consumption of agricultural products. "Without proper investment, even in developing the regional transport network, it will be difficult to promote the efficiency and advantages from trade links," said Le Minh Nam. Meanwhile, deputy To Ai Vang of the National Assembly delegation of Soc Trang province suggested that the Government should have adequate incentive policies for scientific research works on post-harvest processing and preservation technology associated with cold supply chain. At the same time, there should have many programmes to attract domestic and foreign resources. The business community should invest in developing an international agricultural product processing service center located in 5 key material regions of the country. . According to deputy To Van Tam of the National Assembly delegation of Kon Tum province, as an agricultural country with many strong agricultural products, the brand affirmation of Vietnam in the international market is still limited. The reason is that many domestic agricultural products are exported in raw form. After foreign enterprises import Vietnamese raw products, they will process them to create their own brands. From this analysis, To Van Tam said that building trademarks and trademarks of agricultural products for Vietnam is a very important issue that needs to be clearly defined in this restructuring plan./.