Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong (Photo: VNA) Cuong told the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’sreporter that such production chains will be developed on the basis of threegroups of major products – the club with export revenue of at least 1 billionUSD, agricultural products that are of localities’ strength like longan innorthern Hung Yen province and lychee in northern Bac Giang province, and “One Commune,One Product” (OCOP) goods.
Vietnam has paid attention to product quality duringits international economic integration, Cuong said, stressing the significanceof organic agriculture.
The sector will also take various solutions to callfor the involvement of businesses, while promoting the linkages between them andfarmers and cooperatives.
To attract more enterprises, the sector will furtherprovide consultations for the Prime Minister in order to complete mechanismsand policies, as well as administrative reforms, he said.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development(MARD) will also closely coordinate with localities to facilitate investment, theminister said, adding that greater efforts will be made to step up theformation of new-style cooperatives.
Cuong said the application of digital technologyshould be intensified in spheres, and the MARD will join hands with theMinistry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Information and Communicationsin this regard.
In another interview with the Dien dan Doanh nghiep(Business Forum) newspaper, Cuong said that 2020 was a year full of challengesand difficulties for Vietnam’s economy, including the agriculture sector, dueto the COVID-19 crisis. The sector also had to face natural disasters,including unprecedented drought.
The growth and trade targets for the sector last yearwere also the highest ever, with exports set at over 41 billion USD.
However, Cuong noted, thanks to the efforts of theentire political system, ministries, sectors, localities, and economicelements, the agricultural sector managed to secure growth of about 2.65percent and post export earnings of 41.25 billion USD, with nine groups ofcommodities enjoying shipments of over 10 billion USD.
The agriculture sector’s export target of 44 billionUSD this year, set by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, is a high but feasiblegoal. Vietnam earned about 3.49 billion USD from exports of agricultural,forestry, and fisheries products in January, up 27.1 percent year-on-year, datafrom the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shows.
Under a plan recently approved by the PM, Vietnamexpects the annual figure to reach some 60-62 billion USD by 2030./.
VNA
