The fishing industry shines the spotlight

At the Conference on reviewing the tasks of the first six months and implementing the tasks of the second half of 2022 of MARD on June 28, the Director of the Department of Planning, Nguyen Van Viet, cited the climate, rising input material prices, and high year-on-year production indications of 2021 as the three greatest challenges in recent time. 

Despite difficulties, the agricultural business continues to thrive, with output value growing by 2.8% and a number of achievements, such as the introduction of the Swine African Vaccine; exports reaching USD 27.88 billion and the trade surplus twice that of the same period last year.

In the first half of the year, seafood exports reached USD 5.8 billion, a year-over-year increase of 40.8%. This was a positive result in light of the growing prices of petrolium and oil, which have led to the accumulation of logistical costs and disruption of the supply chain.

According to Mr. Tran Dinh Luan, Director of the Directorate of Fisheries, the unit has paid close attention to estimations and forecasts of market demand in order to reserve yields and formulate a production plan for 2022.

He believed that the fishing sector will overcome a number of obstacles posed by the environment, the cost of input resources, and the scarcity of exportable raw materials.

In addition, the prevention and battle of Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and the elimination of the EC's yellow card have been emphasized. As a result, the unit requested the assistance of 28 coastal provinces and cities in order to resolve the problem.  

"EC praised Vietnam's attempts to handle the problem. Europe recognized the decrease in reported violations. This creates the groundwork for us to strengthen traceability management of exploited seafood ", added Mr. Luan.

Being cautious of public investment capital disbursement and OCOP goods 

The agricultural sector is facing two shortcomings. First, the rate of public investment capital disbursement in the first half of the year reached 26%, which is around 10% lower than the same time in 2021.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has a total capital plan for 2022 of VND 6,438 billion, of which VND 4,538 billion is domestic capital (including government bond capital) and VND 1,900 billion is ODA capital. According to Mr. Viet, the industry's disbursement rate is now tenth in the nation, and it must be increased to assure the pace of economic recovery.

In just six months, the number of OCOP goods climbed by 2,000 to 7,463. However, the majority of them were 3-star or 4-star recognized by provincial and local governments. The number of 5-star items assessed by the Central remained almost unchanged at about 20.

Due to the possibility of frequent rains, storms, and flooding during the second half of the year, water resources and natural disaster management are two of the main tasks. This is because such events might have a negative impact on the production organization. In the next months, the industry must also address the stagnation of agricultural goods at border gates. 

A representative of Crop Production brought out the difficulty of consuming citrus in northern regions owing to diseases that directly reduce productivity and output.

The lever from science and technology

At the conclusion of the meeting, MARD Minister Le Minh Hoan encouraged a shift in direction, development, and planning strategies in all fields, citing the importance of science and technology.

The production organization is lagging behind the market's growth, limiting the spread of several circular agricultural and eco-agriculture models.

"It is a process to adapt to an agricultural economy. The agricultural industry as a whole must move and simultaneously assist in educating the public on all fronts "Minister said.

In addition, he acknowledged the contribution of state management agencies, businesses, cooperatives, and households to the transformation process.

The leader of the agriculture industry also placed a great deal of emphasis on the affiliated agencies to improve connectivity, promote creative innovation, advance the adoption of advanced technologies, and undergo digital transformation, viewing them as the key to the growth of the entire industry.

Four core missions

Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep listed 4 main tasks that the agriculture industry must prioritize during the last six months of 2022. First, concentrate on creating legal papers, such as 6 Government Decrees, 1 Decision Decree of the Prime Minister, and 15 Ministerial Circulars, as well as 26 programs/projects and 44 National level master plans for agriculture.

Second, Deputy Minister Hiep offered a strategy to address concerns with the significant growth in OCOP goods during the first half of the year.

"We have discussed transformation, product value increase, and farmer knowledge at length. However, the agriculture industry must review in accordance with reality "the Deputy Minister said.

The third is agency restructuring.

Fourth is the public investment disbursement. Deputy Minister Hiep guaranteed that by the end of 2022, the public investment disbursement rate would reach 100 percent and the ODA capital rate will reach 80 percent.

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said that agricultural exports reached USD 27.88 billion in the first half of the year, an increase of 13.9% year-over-year. The primary group of agricultural goods reached USD 11.37 billion, up 8.8 percent; the primary group of forest products reached USD 9.1 billion, up 3 percent; and the primary group of fisheries reached USD 5.8 billion, up 40.8 percent.

"Export is the most precise measurement, the most exact evaluation of the efficacy of agricultural reform. In recent years, exports have steadily grown, indicating that the value and quality of agricultural goods are rising gradually and are able to capture demanding markets ", Deputy Minister Tien stated.

The leader has a positive regard of the fisheries sector. He noted that the fisheries industry has taken the necessary steps to enhance farming and decrease fishing force. The 7.4% growth in aquaculture production in the first half of 2022 is "spectacular," with a total output of 2.27 million tons, of which fish production is 1.55 million tons, up 6.5%, and shrimp production is 448.4 thousand tons, up 11.3%.

Moreover, he also addressed horticulture. According to him, this is an untapped sector that contributes 25,2 percent of the nation's gross domestic product to the agricultural sector.

This field encourages digital transformation in addition to constructing biosafety breeding sites. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has recently constructed and launched a database and information system for the cattle business. In spite of several obstacles, livestock production has increasingly solved issues with software, data, transmission lines, and information infrastructure in an effort to become an agricultural sector development engine.

Translated by Linh Linh