New policies hoped to facilitate investment in agriculture

Hanoi –The Government has issued a resolution to encourage businesses to invest in agriculture, as part of efforts to bring the Vietnamese agricultural sector into world’s top 15 and processing of farm produce into the global top 10 in 2030.

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

The resolution defines agricultural firms’ key role in promoting the sector’s production and enhancing the competitiveness of Vietnamese farm produce.

Several solutions were given in the resolution, including balancing credit for agricultural development and strengthening connectivity among banks and businesses.

The Ministry of Finance was asked to coordinate with ministries, sectors, localities and farmers to design favourable mechanisms for farmers and cooperatives to access land resources to form concentrated production and processing areas

According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, the new policies will motivate companies to invest in agriculture.

The ministry will build strategies, plans and projects to boost the sustainable growth of the sector, with priority given to expanding major products and the processing of vegetable, aquatic and wooden products, he said.

In the first six months of this year, 1,634 new businesses entered the sector, raising the total agricultural companies to nearly 11,000.

However, agricultural firms have accounted for only about 8 percent of the total enterprises of the country, while agro-forestry-fisheries companies make up a mere 1 percent of the total firms.

Meanwhile, the growth of the firms has yet to match the sector’s potential in land resources, ecosystem and labour resources.

Vice Director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Cong Thang noted that 96 percent of businesses investing in agriculture are small- and macro-sized firms with modest capacity.

At the same time, Vietnamese agricultural production’s scale is small, with poor infrastructure system. The market for farm produce is unstable, while there is still a lack of tools for the prevention of risks for the sector.

Dam Quang Thang, Director of Agricare Vietnam, said localities should design smooth mechanisms and legal corridors in land accumulation to facilitate the application of high technology in agriculture.

They should support businesses to engage in national trade promotion programmes and update them with information on the international market, he stated.

However, experts said businesses must strengthen connectivity to form big economic groups with strong capacity and resources to bring high technology into production, reduce cost, enhance competitiveness and build strong trademarks for Vietnamese farm produce.-