PM points out shortcomings in agricultural production

HANOI – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, speaking at a meeting with Haiphong leaders June 26 , said the small farmland limit is one of the major shortcomings in agricultural production.

There are 17.5 million farms nationwide, he said, so this means each farmer has a small plot of land for agricultural production. Data shows more than 80% of farmers in the country have less than one hectare of farmland each.

The country cannot boost farming productivity with those small farms, he said.

Inappropriate policies have led to low investment in agriculture. Outdated technologies and unstable markets have caused many difficulties for farmers.

“The Government will focus on solving these shortcomings. We have mapped out a good agriculture development plan, including calling for more investment, applying new technology and making better policies,” he said.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, as of September 2016, Vietnam has only 4,424 businesses active in agriculture, accounting for less than 1% of the country’s total. After three years of implementing Decree No. 210 on support for agricultural production, there were only 64 agricultural projects getting insignificant aid.

In 2015, only 40 projects in 21 provinces received total aid of VND200 billion (US$8.8 million) and in 2016, disbursements to implement supporting policies in line with Decree 210 totaled only VND185 billion. Hue said these investments are insignificant while the procedures for receiving aid are complicated.

The PM said the economic outlook is brighter with inflation under control, macro-economic stability, economic recovery, strong export growth and stock market rallies.

In the first five months of 2017 the nation’s foreign exchange reserves rose to more than US$40 billion, new foreign investment approvals reached more than US$12 billion and newly-established enterprises totaled 50,000.