Vietnams investment in agricultural R&D activities remains limited

Farmers harvest rice in the Mekong Delta region – PHOTO: TRUNG CHANH

CAN THO – Vietnam annually pours VND600 billion into agricultural science, of which spending on research and development (R&D) activities accounts for VND300 billion, or some US$14 million, just one-tenth of the amount spent by Vietnam’s neighboring country, Thailand.

Speaking at a seminar titled “Mechanical Engineering Industry Serves Agriculture Development” held in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho today, November 16, Bui Chi Buu, former head of the Institute of Agricultural Science for Southern Vietnam and an agriculture expert, noted that half of the VND600 billion is spent on salary payments and the other half is injected into R&D activities.

Vietnam’s VND300-billion investment in R&D activities is one-tenth of Thailand’s investment and one-seventh of that of the Philippines, Buu said, adding that the spending is just one-six hundredth of that of South Korea.

Some delegates at the seminar stated that Vietnam’s poor investment in R&D activities in agriculture had resulted in losses, weaknesses in the application of advanced technology to agricultural development and heavy dependence on many leading tech countries.

For instance, 100% of machines used for harvesting crops in the Mekong Delta region were imported from Japan’s Kubota and Yanmar. Besides this, Vietnam annually spends some US$500 million on importing seeds, 33.3 times more than it spends on R&D activities in the agriculture sector.

Buu said that Vietnam was home to 700 central-level R&D institutions and over 1,000 R&D units of localities and enterprises. “However, few entities hold activities and budget for agricultural R&D,” Buu added.

Buu noted that the National Assembly had allowed spending 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) value to invest in science and technology, giving the country an estimated investment budget of US$4.5 billion each year since the GDP amounted to some US$224 billion in 2017, but the target has yet to be fulfilled.

Meanwhile, the United States and China have recorded high spending on R&D activities. In particular, the United States annually sets aside 2.8% of its GDP, equivalent to US$532 billion, to invest in R&D activities. The GDP of the United States was said to reach US$19 trillion in 2017. Meanwhile, China spent US$258 billion in 2013 and US$284 billion in 2014 on R&D activities.

As such, investment in R&D activities plays an important role in the development of the agriculture sector and in the science and technology sector as it facilitates farm work, enhances productivity and raises competitiveness in the global market.