Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Agricultureand Rural Development has announced the 10 most outstanding achievements of thesector in 2018.

1. The Gross Domestic Product of agriculture, forestry andfisheries expanded by 3.76 percent, the highest in the past seven years,despite disadvantaged weather conditions and unfavourable fluctuations in themarket.

2. Export revenue from agricultural, forestry and fisheryproducts surpassed 40 billion USD, up 9.6 percent from 2017 (the targetassigned by the Government was 36-37 billion USD). This is the highest ever exportvalue of the sector.

3.The National Assembly passed the Law on Cultivation andLaw on Animal Husbandry. So far seven laws in the field of agriculture andrural development have been promulgated, which are Law on Cultivation (2018),Law on Animal Husbandry (2018), Law on Irrigation (2017), Law on Forestry(2017), Law on Fishery (2017), Law on Animal Health (2015), Law on PlantProtection and Quarantine (2013).

4. A total of 2,200 new firms were established in agriculture,up 12.3 percent from 2013, bringing the total number of firms operating in thefield to 9,235, the largest number ever. The number of production chains reached1,096, up 350 from 2017.

5. Half of business conditions (175 out of 345) in the fieldwere cut or simplified, while the number of farm products subject to specialisedinspection coded HS was reduced to 1,768 from the previous 7,698 (over 77percent). Thirteen administrative procedures are now connected to the NationalSingle Window portal.

6. A total of 3,787 communes (42.4 percent of the totalnumber) and 61 districts were recognised as meeting new-style rural areacriteria. Average income of rural household reached 130 million VND, up 1.71times from 2017 and 3.5 times from 2008.

7. The exploitation of wood in natural forest was ended, woodoutput from planted forests and scattered trees nationwide reached 27.5 millioncubic metres, while forest coverage reached the highest rate since 1975 at41.65 percent.

8. Vietnam signed the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) onForest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT)  and engaged in negotiations on harmonisationof regulations for the early removal of the EU’s yellow card on Illegal, Unreportedand Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

9. Vietnam successfully produced vaccine for foot-and-mouthdisease in cattle.

10. Damage caused by natural disasters was kept at low level,with fatalities dropping by 43 percent and material losses equal to only 33percent compared to 2017 figures.-VNA