VietNamNet Bridge - 2015 was a year of difficulties, from the weather, to the market to resources. However, thanks to timely measures of the agricultural sector, Vietnam’s export of agricultural-forestry products reached $30.13 billion.

In the context of increasing climate change, agricultural production in the world in general and  Vietnam in particular continues to face many difficulties.

According to experts, 2015 was the year with the strongest El Nino phenomenon since 1997-1998.

American forecasters confirmed that El Nino phenomenon will last until mid-March 2016 and will cause much damage. Abnormal weather has affected agriculture around the world.

Extreme weather caused by El Nino made rivers, lakes and irrigation projects in the Central Highlands  and central Vietnam dry to the bottom.

Vietnam’s rice granary - the Mekong Delta - is in drought and 1/3 of the areas are in high salinity so the rice output has reduced dramatically. According to surveys of the Institute for Climate Change Research, farmers are losing 30-40% of rice production.

Particularly in areas heavily affected by salinity intrusion, rice production may fall by 50%.

In 2015, Vietnam signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea and the Eurasian Economic Union, finished FTA negotiations with the European Union (EU) and the Trans-pacific Partnership agreement (TPP).

The context of deep integration has created more opportunities and challenges for Vietnam's economy, including agriculture.

Vietnam agricultural products have the opportunity to reach new markets, to enjoy preferential tariffs, but also suffer from growing  competitive pressure in both domestic and overseas markets.

In 2015, exports of Vietnam’s major agricultural commodities including seafood, rubber, rice and coffee faced trouble because of exchange rate fluctuations in the importing countries and devaluation policies of the competitors in exports; large inventory in the exporting and importing countries; importing countries strengthening of technical barriers  and demand for higher quality products ...

In that situation with difficulties of weather, markets and resources, the agricultural sector still gained good results in the export of the vegetables, rice and timber. Export growth of horticulture sector reached 23.4% compared with 2014, to $1.83 billion.

Many fruits such as longan, litchi, mango had access to more demanding markets such as the USA, Australia, EU, Japan ....

Dragon fruit has been accepted in Japan, which means reducing dependence on the Chinese market.

For timber, many bilateral and multilateral trade agreements were and will be signed, creating opportunity to expand the market. At the same time, demand for wood products in the world has helped increase exports from Vietnam.

For the rice sector, although export value declined in 2015, exports of high-quality rice increased, lessening dependence on the Chinese market.

Total exports in 2015 of the agricultural sector reached $30.13 billion dollars, down 1.4% compared with 2014 but exceeded the 5-year target of $21 billion.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said that, despite domestic added value of agricultural exports in 2015 reaching only 70%, Vietnamese businesses and farmers received $20 billion in value.

Minister Cao Duc Phat forecasted that the El Nino will still last until mid-2016 but it is more worrying that La Nina phenomenon may occur after El Nino, with extreme phenomena such as floods and heavy rain.

Nam Hai