Hanoi (VNA) - Only one percent of total enterprises in Vietnam haveinvested in agriculture, and 55 percent of these are small scale, capitalisedat under 5 billion VND (220,250 USD), said Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

Mostof these investors have not undertaken professional investment activities andnot applied hi-tech and state-of-the-art equipment in their projects, he toldbusiness representatives at a recent dialogue on investment organised in Hanoi bythe Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Agricultureand Rural Development (MARD).

Besides,the firms have not cooperated with scientists and farmers in the productionchain. The result was high production costs, low competitive ability andinefficiency in investment.

Fortheir part, business representatives called on the State to initiate morespecific and preferential policies to draw investment to agriculture.

MinisterCuong said the Government has enacted preferential policies in taxes, credit,land and training to encourage investment in agriculture and rural areas. It hasalso developed high-tech enterprises in the agricultural sector and enforcedregulations on public private partnerships (PPP) in agriculture and the ruralarea.

Asa result, the number of enterprises investing in agriculture increased from2,397 in 2007 to 3,640 in 2015 and to 4,080 in the first nine months of thisyear, he said, adding that the development of investment in agriculture isunstable and the potential for more investment in the sector has not beentapped.

Thoseenterprises that do invest in agriculture had encountered difficulties such asweather and limitations in land, credit and tax policies.

DinhCao Khue, chairman of vegetable and food exporter Dong Giao Food Export JSC,said agriculture is one of the sectors with a trade surplus, but it has fewsupport policies. For instance, enterprises find it difficult to obtain landfor developing agricultural projects.

Accordingto Chairwoman of TH Group Thai Huong, ministries and sectors have not cometogether to support enterprises in investment activities for agriculture. Sheurged the MARD to propose policies for agriculture with support from otherministries and sectors.

Huongproposed that the state should choose goods which have an advantage incompetition on world markets, with specific preferential policies such asdevelopment of the best rice variety.  hestate should also set standards for farming products that meet internationalstandards.

Atpresent, the MARD has promoted the restructuring of agriculture to improve thevalue of farming products and achieve sustainable development in agriculture.One of the restructuring solutions has been to attract more investors, especiallyfor building up chains from production to processing and consumption.

MinisterCuong affirmed that the Government has been focusing on improving theinvestment environment and encouraging enterprises to invest in agriculture, promisinga breakthrough soon in preferential policies to instill confidence amonginvestors, especially in hi-tech and clean farming.-VNA