Agriculture restructuring plan in 2017-2020 approved

The plan targets gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 3 percent per year by 2020. Average labor productivity is expected to expand by 3.5 percent per annum and the proportion of labor in agriculture will fall to below 40 percent. About 22 percent of agricultural workers will receive training.
The income of rural laborers will increase at least 1.8 times compared to 2015 and 50 percent of communes will become new rural areas.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the agriculture sector is targeted at 3 percent per year by 2020.

As many as 5,000 cooperatives and unions of agricultural cooperatives will operate and most residents in rural areas get access to hygienic water.
In cultivation, the country will shift to grow crops adaptive to climate change and suitable with each region, develop concentrated and large-scale production areas, adopt chain production for national key products, and encourage the development of clean and organic agriculture.
The plan also calls for more applications of science and technology in the sector to create high-quality varieties, adopting intensive farming, reducing the use of pesticides, replacing ineffective rice cultivation land to grow other crops, and promoting aquatic breeding.
The country will also develop household livestock, organic and ecological animal husbandry, and value production chains in addition to building brands, reorganizing the slaughtering system to ensure food safety and hygiene and environmental protection, inspecting and controlling diseases effectively, and tightening the examination of the use of veterinary drugs and additives in the field. The livestock industry aims for annual production growth of 4.5-5 percent.
Meanwhile, the seafood sector will promote offshore fishing and invest in modernizing processing equipment and storage on board to reduce losses, with growth of 4.5-5 percent per year expected.
According to the Government’s report, the export of Vietnam’s agricultural products rose by 16 per cent in the 11-month period of this year with many products posting strong increases in export revenues.
Rice export during the period touched 5.49 million tons, worth $2.48 billion, increasing by 23.4 per cent and 24.2 per cent over the same period last year, respectively.
Fruit and vegetable export set a new high, reaching $3.16 billion in the 11-month period, up by 43.2 per cent.
Other agricultural products, which saw a significant increase in exports included rubber (up by 38.9 per cent to $2 billion revenue) and cashew (up by 23.2 per cent to $3.2 billion revenue).