A smart farming model named Delco Farm in Nguyet Duc commune of Thuan Thanh district in Bac Ninh province (Photo: VNA)

Over the past 2 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, agriculture has become a key support bolstering the national economy through what has been a turbulent period.

2022 is particularly important for the agricultural sector as the government aims to implement its 10-year socio-economic development strategy through 2030 and the 5-year socio-economic development plan through 2025.

The industry has focused on restructuring toward increasing added value and sustainable development in line with transforming the sector’s growth approach to implement “ecological agriculture”, “modern countryside”, and “smart farmer” models in new rural areas.

This year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has set a target of producing 48.3 million tons of grain food.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has assigned the sector to realize the target of earning 50 billion USD in export turnover of farm produce this year. 

To that end, the Ministry has recently announced a Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy through 2030 with a vision toward 2050. 

Nguyen Van Viet, Director of the Planning Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Photo: Minh Phuc)

Nguyen Van Viet, Director of the Planning Department, called on ministries, functional sectors, and localities to join efforts to realize this strategy.

“The strategy embraces a completely new mindset.  The Ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance, Industry and Trade, Natural Resources and Environment, Science and Technology, Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, and the State Bank of Vietnam should prepare their development plans or review all their policies and mechanisms for the Prime Minister’s approval to apply across the system,” said Viet.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said the sector needs to restructure its production to shift from agricultural production to agricultural economy which focuses more on value, efficiency, diversification of value chains in line with market requirements, and inter-sectoral development.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan (Photo: Van Giang)

He stressed the need to work towards green and ecological agriculture by uniformly applying technology, rationally using input materials for farming, and efficiently utilizing natural resources so as not to affect the environment and human health.

The agriculture sector will fine-tune the agricultural production structure to improve its competitiveness and meet market requirements, Minister Hoan said, adding, “We hope the strategy will be widely spread to relocate the role, position and mission of agriculture, rural areas and farmers in the mind of managers, people and society.”

“We used to disregard the agricultural sector for its slow growth and many risks. The strategy reiterates that despite small contributions, agriculture remains important to stabilizing society because more than 60% of Vietnamese people are living in rural areas and are farmers,” according to Minister Hoan.

Among the detailed targets for 2030, Vietnam’s agriculture is expected to grow 2.5 to 3% while income of rural residents rise 2.5 to 3 times from 2020. The poverty rate in rural areas is expected to decrease 1 to 1.5 percent on a year-over-year basis.

By 2050, Vietnam aims to become one of the leaders in agriculture globally with a modern, efficient, and environmentally friendly agricultural processing sector.