The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development convened a meeting on June 28 to review the first half of the year and assign the most important tasks for the second half of 2022.

Maintaining manufacturing drive

Despite the effects of unfavorable weather, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which disrupted the supply chain, and rising prices of production input materials, the agriculture and rural development industry still accomplished several goals. 

Regarding crop production, the nation planted around 5.2 million hectares of rice, an increase of 2 % from the previous year; yield reached 65.1 quintals per hectare, a decline of approximately 1.8 quintals per hectare; and output reached 23.17 million tons. Numerous regions have modified the crop structure on 45,800 hectares of inefficient rice land to produce vegetables, fruits, perennial industrial plants, and aquaculture with greater economic efficiency.

The output of industrial crops such as pepper, rubber, and tea grew, except for a 16.5 % decline in cashew due to unseasonable rainfall, which brought the total to 321,9 thousand tons. The production of the key fruit trees climbed significantly, including lychee (170 thousand tons, up 7.4 %), oranges (490,8 thousand tones, up 15.1 %), and pomelo (282.8 thousand tons, up 6.2 %), but dragon fruit output declined to 606,8 thousand tons, down 7.4 %.

In the field of livestock agriculture, total meat production reached 3.4 million tons. In which the pig herd grew by 3.8% and live meat production reached 2.12 million tons, up 5.7%; the cow herd grew by 2.2%; meat production reached 241.2 thousand tons, up 4.4%; milk production reached 617.8 million liters, up 10.1%; the poultry flock grew by 1.2%; live meat production reached 980.7 thousand tons, up 5.2%; and egg production reached 8.8 billion eggs, up 4.8%.

The expected growth rate of agricultural, forestry, and fishery output value in the first half of the year is 2.8%; agriculture climbed by 2.31 %; forestry increased by 4.97 %, and fisheries increased by 4.15 %. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries estimated a GDP growth rate between 2.7% and 2.8% over the first six months.

In June, the MARD announced the African Swine Fever vaccine, which signifies the success of Vietnam's research efforts and contributes to the sustainable development of the animal production industry.

In forestry, the nation prepared around 860 million seedlings of all varieties for forest plantation, an increase of 30 % year over year; the newly planted forest-covered 119,2 thousand hectares, an increase of 6 %. Timber production from concentrated plantation forests was nearly 8.5 million m3, up 5.9%. All levels and sectors are particularly concerned about forest fire safety and prevention.

In the sector of fisheries, fishermen have taken use of the incentives given by free trade agreements to overcome the "storm" of petroleum and oil prices.  In the first half of the year, the focus of the fishing sector was on farming rather than exploitation. Exploitation output decreased by 2.6% to 1.93 million tons, while aquaculture output increased by 7.4% to 2.27 million tons.

Improving quality

By the end of June, 5,775 out of 8,227 communes (representing 70.2%) met the new rural standard, an increase of 160 communes (1.9%) from the end of 2021.

Currently, 7,463 OCOP items have been awarded three or more stars, including twenty 5-star products, drawing 4,061 participants.

Regarding high-tech agriculture, the industry has developed two new maize varieties and eleven new technological advancements; the process of breeding acacia hybrid eucalyptus hybrid reaches a scale of three million trees per year; the technological process of preserving oceanic tuna through nanotechnology and the technological process of super-intensive farming of white leg shrimp with two levels, among others, are also included.

Doubling trade surplus

The agricultural business promotes official exports to key markets (China, the United States, the European Union, and Brazil) and efficiently utilizes potential markets (Japan - Korea, ASEAN, Australia - New Zealand, Middle East) as a result of proactive research, forecasting, and exploitation of free trade agreement opportunities. 

Simultaneously, the MARD coordinated with relevant ministries, departments, and branches to negotiate and finalize the export procedures for mango and chicken meat to Korea; grapefruit and lemon to New Zealand; feathers, nests, and products thereof, and milk and dairy products to China; honey to the European Union; and survey planting areas and irradiation factories to unify the pomelo export plan with the United States.

Due to a succession of synchronous and timely solutions, the total AFF export turnover for the first half of 2022 increased by 13.9% to reach USD 27.88 billion.

Contributing to this accomplishment, nine production inputs (coffee, rubber, cashew, vegetables, rice, pangasius, shrimp, and wood products, among others) have risen in export value and surpassed USD 1 billion.

Regarding the two largest markets, export turnover to the United States was around USD 7.61 billion (up 7.9 % and accounting for 27.3 % of total export value), with wood and wood products being the dominant (accounting for about 66.8 % ). For China, export volume was around USD 4,97 billion (up 5.9 % and accounting for 17.8 % of total export value).

In the first half of the year, agro-forestry imports totaled around USD 22.1 billion. This enables the industry's trade surplus to double from the first half of 2021 to almost USD 5.75 billion.

Several record numbers

In the last six months of 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has established a number of objectives equivalent to or above those assigned by the government. In terms of production, the GDP growth rate in 2022 for the entire industry is 2.8 - 3.0 % (The government assigned 2.5 - 2.8 %), and the production value of the entire industry increased by 2.9 - 3.1 %; AFF export turnover is approximately USD 55 billion (exceeding USD 5 billion compared to Government allocation).

In addition, the agricultural sector strives for the rate of over 75 % communes meeting the standards of new rural areas (the Government assigned 73 %), over 240 district-level units meeting the standards/completing the task of building new rural areas (the Government assigned 235 units); the rate of forest cover is maintained at 42 %, and forest quality is enhanced; the rate of the rural population using clean water is increased to 92.5 %; and the rate of the rural population using clean water is increased to 92.5 %, among others.

The MARD proposes 12 main tasks and solutions to attain the aforementioned objectives including synchronously and effectively implementing laws, strategies, programs, schemes, master plans, and plans on sector development; accelerating the restructuring of the industry, improving the productivity and quality of agricultural products and the efficiency of production and business; vigorously developing the market, removing barriers, and creating favorable conditions for the consumption of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products; and establishing a favorable environment for the consumption of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products.

Translated by Linh Linh