This was reported at a meeting of the Vietnam Farms and Agricultural Enterprises Association in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday.
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said that development of agricultural economics is an inevitable trend to promote agricultural products in a large scale.
For the past ten years, the number of farms across the country increased by 1.75 times from 20,065 farms to 34,348 ones or average increase of 6.9 percent yearly. Farms are located in 184,000 hectares of land with 130,000 employees in rural districts each having income of VND4.9 million (US$211.8) monthly.
A farm owner averagely makes VND3 – VND5 billion yearly.
More and more farms both make agricultural products and take part in agritourism as well as create a special product for the ‘one commune – one product’ (OCOP) program – the potential for growth. Farm economy has partially contributed to agricultural restructuring, building new-style rural districts as per the national target program on building new-style rural areas, raising added value and mobilizing big capital in the community for the country’s development.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s circular to guide how to certify agricultural farms, a farm is recognized to be agriculture based on productivity and effectiveness.
Moreover, the Ministry ordered to simultaneously implement solutions to attract investors in the field of agriculture and connect cooperatives and enterprises to re-organize production, promote market development and produce consumption.
Vietnam has yielded fruitful achievement thanks to the contribution of Vietnam Farms and Agricultural Enterprises Association in consulting the legal framework and policies to help develop farming economy.
Nevertheless, farm owners are facing challenges such as climate changes, diseases, natural disasters and unstable market for agricultural products, and shortage of land and laborers. Just a few farms applied hi-tech in producing, processing and preserving.
Worse, most laborers in the sector are not trained. Therefore, the Association should take heed of training course for laborers and farm owners.
Deputy Minister Nam said the Association should work with relevant agencies and local administrations to encourage farm owners to expand production, enhance its competitiveness and raise value of their products by applying technologies and connect with enterprises to consume products.
The Deputy Minister stressed to encourage farm owners to unite together and connect with cooperatives and enterprises as well as take part in food chains.
