Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc expects Vietnam to join the world’s top 15 most advanced countries in agriculture in the next 10 years, and its food processing in the top 10, the governmental portal reported. 

Vietnam should aim to become the world’s leading wood processing and exporting country, and a major shrimp exporter in the world market, Phuc said at a conference on January 3 discussing plan for Vietnam’s agriculture in 2019. 

Vietnam currently stands second in Southeast Asia in terms of agricultural exports, Phuc added. 

To achieve these targets, Phuc requested the agricultural sector to maintain a growth rate of 3% annually, and exports of US$42 billion – US$43 billion per year. 

Additionally, it is vital to ensure supportive policies for agricultural development, at the same time removing obsolete and inefficient regulations, he stated.

At present, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development has removed 173 out of the 345 business conditions or 50% of the total under its administration, meeting the government’s target. 

More importantly, Vietnam has been able to establish a series of safe food supply chain for domestic consumption, Phuc stated, citing the current 1,096 chains for 1,400 agricultural products. 

However, the number of workforce in the agricultural sector remains large at 38%, while the restructuring process has not been consistently implemented nationwide, Phuc added. 

In the coming time, Vietnam’s agricultural sector must focus on developing national key agricultural products and their respective branding in global market. 

The sector has to take advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in production, especially Artificial Intelligence, and Big Data. 

Vietnam’s agricultural sector recorded a seven-year high growth rate of 3.76% year-on-year in 2018 and exports at record high of US$40.02 billion. 

In 2018, China remained Vietnam’s largest export market for agricultural products, accounting for 22.9% of Vietnam’s total exports, followed by Japan (19.1%), the US (17.9%), ASEAN (10.64%) and South Korea (6.9%). 

Hanoitimes