Hanoi, May 2 (VNA) – The Vietnam Private Sector Economic Forum 2019opened in Hanoi on May 2, with a special conference focusing on the sustainable formation and developmentof agro-forestry-fishery value chains for international integration.

The event, co-organised by the Government and the EconomicCommission of the Party Central Committee, gathered nearly 300 Vietnamese andforeign delegates. It took place when agriculture remains the major supplysource of food despite the sector’s reducing contributions to the GDP fromnearly 40 percent in the 1990s to less than 15 percent by the end of 2018.

According to deputy head of the commission Cao Duc Phat, theforum aims to find out measures to strengthen connectivity to develop valuechains for strong farm produce of Vietnam, and promote investment inagriculture and rural areas amidst international integration.

He noted that among the 500,000 operating enterprises, only6,000 work in agriculture. Vietnam has 10 million farmer households with smalland micro production scales comparing to that in other countries, he added.

The official stressed the need to boost the role ofhousehold production and businesses, especially private firms.

Participants at the event gave various proposals to improve thelinkage of involved parties in agricultural production, including developingbig firms to motivate the production and the formation of databases foragro-forestry-fishery products.

According to Le Duc Thinh, head of the Department of Cooperativesand Rural Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,only 11-14 percent of agricultural products have been sold through theconnections of parties, and only 3-5 percent sold through connection chainswith safe agricultural practices such as VietGap and GlobalGap.

He underscored the necessity to train farmers on productionstandards and raise their public awareness of enhancing farm produce quality.

Vice President of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance NguyenVan Thinh said that it is crucial to amend the 2012 Law on Cooperatives and theLand Law to deal with problems in land accumulation for production development,while building models for cooperatives in associated with key products of eachlocality. Cooperatives themselves should reform and improve their capacity tomeet integration and linkage requirements.

Nguyen Ngoc Dan, chairman of smart online monitoring companyUnited proposed the training of agricultural workers by opening courses forfarmers to master the cultivation of particular plants with the support of thelocal government.

It is necessary to set specific requirements for connectionchains with detailed mechanisms and benefits of each member, he stressed.

Deputy General Director of the Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentBank Le Xuan Trung stressed the need to strengthening the role of the provincialPeople’s Committees in chain development, while monitoring and supportinglocals to join the chains, and providing risk and price insurance for membersof the chains to reduce their losses.-VNA