Hanoi (VNA) – Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong on December 12requested the Vietnam Farmers’ Union (VFU) to better perform its role inconnecting the Party and State with farmers, protecting the legitimate rightsand interests of farmers, and proposing policies for agriculture, farmer andrural development.

The leader made therequest at the opening ceremony of the union’s seventh congress in Hanoi, whichdrew 999 delegates representing more than 10 million farmers nationwide.

He said that over thepast 88 years since its founding, the VFU has grown strongly and made great contributionsto the country’s revolution.

In the previoustenure, the union made a number of steps to reform its operation methods tomaintain its central role in farmers’ movements and the building of new-stylerural areas, he said.

The leader alsopointed to a number of shortcomings by the union, including the slow innovationin its operation process as well as industrialisation and modernisation of agricultureand rural areas.

He stressed that theParty and State have defined agriculture, farmers and rural areas as strategicfactors in the national industrialisation, modernisation, construction anddefence, as well as an important force for socio-economic development andenvironmental protection.

In order to meet requirementsin the new period and maintain sustainable development, it is necessary for theunion to continue reforming its operation and fostering solidarity amongfarmers, turning them into a great revolutionary, economic, political andsocial force of the Party and State, the leader stated.

He also asked Partyorganisations, local administrations, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and political-socialorganisations to create favourable conditions for the union to operateeffectively.

According to a reportat the congress, in the 2013-2018 period, the union held 130,000agro-forestry-fishery training courses for more than 15 million officials andfarmers, while building and transferring over 14,000 models of technologyapplication to agro-forestry-fishery production to farmers.

The union has heldmore than 410,000 technology training courses for nearly 25 million members,along with 62,000 production models involving nearly 6.32 million farmers.

In the next tenure,the union aims to have at least 60 percent of members accessing the Internet,and 100 percent of union’s officials receiving training on new agriculturalknowledge and communication skills.-VNA