Can Thos agriculture achieves good results in the first 6 months

Despite the complicated Covid-19 epidemic, Can Tho City has maintained good economic growth with a gross domestic product (GRDP) growth rate of 5.61 percent in the first 6 months of 2021.

Farmer in Can Tho City harvested in the 2020-2021 Winter-Spring rice crop. Photo: Le Hoang Vu.

On June 28, the Statistics Department of Can Tho City held a press conference to announce socio-economic statistics for the first 6 months of 2021.

In the context of the current global economy and trade, although the whole country is increasingly seriously affected by the complicated and unpredictable developments of the Covid-19 epidemic, but also Can Tho City has strictly controlled the epidemic situation.

The province's socio-economic fields have been maintained stably. Many production and business industries have been implemented many solutions to achieve the expected growth rates.

According to data announced by the General Statistics Office, the growth rate of the gross domestic product in Can Tho City reached a growth rate of 5.61 percent in the first 6 months of 2021. The agriculture-forestry-fishery sector increased by 1.82 percent, the construction industry sector increased by 5.69 percent, and the service sector increased by 6.64 percent.

Total retail sales of goods and services in the city were estimated at over VND 74,978 billion, up 12.94 percent compared to the previous year's same period. In particular, revenue from accommodation, meals, travel, and services was estimated at over VND 12,103 billion, up 19.12% over the same period of last year.

The city's agricultural production has also met many advantages. For example, livestock and poultry diseases did not occur, and the livestock industry recovered from African swine fever.

The output of cattle and poultry meat is estimated at over 15,000 tonnes, up more than 23.8 percent over the same period of last year. The Winter-Spring rice crop reached a good result. The total output quantity was over 575,000 tonnes with a total area of ​​over 77,100 hectares. Fishery output reached over 97,800 tonnes, up 2.95 percent over the same period last year.

Regarding industrial production, the production index of the whole industry increased by 10.03 percent over the same period. Some products with good growth, such as frozen shrimp by 40.84 percent, bags and bags from textile materials by 24.37 percent, ready-to-wear clothing by 16.25 percent.

However, this increase in industrial production was not high. The reason is that businesses have just resumed production at the end of 2020 but now continue to be affected by the new Covid-19 epidemic. Meanwhile, some service sectors' growth rate continued to decline, such as air transport, which fell 55.98 percent compared to last year.

Can Tho's Statistics Department set a 7.5-8.0 percent GRDP growth target for the whole year 2021, so the last 6 months of 2021 must reach 9.3- 9.5 percent. In the current context, this isn't easy and a big challenge. Therefore, it is necessary to have synchronous, active, fast, and effective solutions to support production, strive to achieve the highest growth possible.

Mr. Le Ngoc Bay, Director of the Statistics Department of Can Tho City, said that the province needs to continue to reform processes and procedures for businesses to access simple, convenient, and timely support policies.

Agencies and localities need to continue implementing solutions to prevent drastically and control the Covid-19 epidemic to prevent the epidemic's spread and ensure production, business activities, and people's health. Therefore, the city will speed up the Covid-19 vaccination schedule for priority subjects and progress to the whole population vaccination as planned.

In addition, supporting the business community in finding markets to import raw materials, fuel, materials, spare parts, spare parts, removing difficulties, and maintaining production and business activities also plays a critical role.

Simultaneously, localities need to actively mobilize people to prioritize using domestic products and support enterprises producing and consuming products in difficult times.