Lan Huong, a representative from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Vietnam, said the FAO considers improving the income of farmers as the key factor in development.
“The FAO fully supports the Vietnam government because its overriding goal aims to improve the livelihood of farmers,” Huong said.
The The FAO plans to provide assistance in the four areas of –institutional reform, climate change adaptation, improvement of sustainability of regulations on goods and services, and effective and comprehensive improvement of agricultural and food systems.
Nguyen The Dung, a representative from the World Bank (WB) in Vietnam, in turn said the WB is supporting a “Sustainable agriculture transformation in Vietnam” (VnSAT) project.
In the future, the WB proposes VnSAT focus on rice production in the Mekong Delta region and coffee in the central highlands. In addition, VnSAT proposes enhancing agricultural restructuring and initiatives on sustainable rice and coffee.
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For his part, Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam David Devine said Vietnam is shifting the growth model to one based on raising competitiveness, productivity, added value and sustainable development.
“Thus, institutional changes to improve transparency and the Government’s responsibility to assist local people create a market niche are critically important,” he said.
Investment incentives in agriculture should attract more Canadian investors to Vietnam, especially in hi-tech and environment services. Minister Phat said many international organisations have provided significant assistance for Vietnam agricultural restructuring projects through specific programmes.
Specifically, the FAO has helped the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development develop action plans for three sectors: plantation, husbandry and fishery.
The Canadian Government has funded CAD500,000 for Vietnam to implement a technical and policy support project to restructure the agricultural sector in the 2013-2020 period.
Additionally, The WB has funded sustainable agricultural production transformation projects, which assist Vietnam in devising important market chains for agricultural products.
