Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - For the first time on August 25, Australia announced itsagriculture strategy in Vietnam, identifying economy, innovation and securityas priorities in the agriculture cooperation between the two countries.

Such a move by Australia was the latest in international commitments inresponse to Vietnam’s calls for international support and cooperation in one ofthe key sectors of its economy.

The Government has been calling for reform in the agricultural sector for yearsto little avail, until a series of intense natural disasters hit Vietnam lastyear. The fatal floods in northern and central Vietnam, followed by prolongeddrought in southern areas occurred in tandem with increasingly severe salineintrusion in the Mekong Delta - the largest rice producing region in thecountry. Such disasters left Vietnam’s agriculture sector - a key contributorto the country’s economic development - with unprecedented minus growth for thefirst time in decades.

It was a big wakeup call to both the Vietnamese Government from central toprovincial levels, and also society as a whole, on how vulnerable the country’straditional ways of working on the fields are to natural weather disasters intimes of climate change.

The race to modernise the farming sector by applying more advanced technologiesin producing, harvesting and post-harvest stages in an effort to reducefarmers’ reliance on nature, started to heat up.

In addition to changes in land and capital policies, Vietnam has approved plansto build ten agricultural zones applying high-tech methods in Hau Giang, Phu Yen,Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong, HCM City, Binh Duongand Can Tho provinces by 2020. The number is expected to more than doubleto 22 zones by 2030. In the meantime, several high-tech agricultural centres ata municipal level have started popping up across the country.

Vietnamese leaders constantly called and aggressively pushed lower levels toengage more in the sector’s reform, while seeking technological and financialsupport from other countries.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc this year paid State visits to Japan and theNetherlands, two of the leading countries in the agriculture sector, while IsraeliPresident Reuven Rivlin also visited Vietnam. President Rivlin visited theVinEco farm, which uses Israeli technologies to grow vegetables.

Dozens of meetings at ministerial levels and below between Vietnam and severalother countries that are strong in agricultural technology like Australia andthe Republic of Korea, also took place. Vietnamese enterprises and farmersfound new ways of farming through cooperation with international businesses orstudy trips to agriculturally-advanced destinations.
Israel was one ofthe most popular destinations.

“Israel has faced a lot of agricultural problems like climate change or lack ofwater and so does Vietnam now,” said Israeli Deputy Chief of Mission in VietnamDoron Lebovich.

Lebovich believes that there is a win-win match between Israel and Vietnam inagricultural cooperation.

“Israel is just a small country of 8.4 million people, well-known forcutting-edge agricultural technologies, and is seeking a big market, while Vietnamis a huge market looking for a transition from traditional agriculture,” hesaid. “Obviously, there is huge potential for the two”.

“More and more delegates from the Government as well as the private sector havecome to Israel to observe and explore the cooperation potential.”

Most of Israeli business involvement in Vietnam’s agriculture sector so far hasbeen technology transfer and consultancy in particular fields, Lebovich said.

These range from dairy and greenhouse, for example, coordination with theVietnamese dairy group TH, or the drip irrigation that by now is largelyapplied by many Vietnamese companies and farmers to tackle water shortages, andeven aquaculture with new methods to run fish and shrimp farms.

Israel in 2007 signed an agreement with Vietnam to offer some 150 million USD inloans to Vietnamese enterprises which partner with Israeli ones, and upped theante by another 100 million USD in 2011. Such aid has encouraged Vietnamesebusinesses to look for a partnership with the Israelis as they stepped into thelong-neglected agriculture sector.

“In recent years, people have started seeing the potential of the Vietnamesemarket and so did Israeli businesses. But the biggest challenge to establish apartnership in Vietnam is that it is very hard to find a good local partner,”Lebovich said.

While Israel is a typical example of how Vietnam can learn new farming methodsand technologies to improve production in both quality and quantity, otherslike the Netherlands have a specific focus to support Vietnam’s agriculturesector.
“High-tech issometimes spoken of like a magic formula. It’s as if you have high-tech,everything can be solved. However, the focus should be on sustainabilityinstead and high-tech methods are just a means to an end,” said DutchAmbassador to Vietnam Nienke Trooster.

Sustainability is a much more important concept to develop in agriculture, sheadded, while stressing the comprehensiveness of the concept mentioning thethree P’s – there should be benefits for People; protection ofthe Planet; and lastly Profits for businesses.    

In order to support sustainable agriculture in Vietnam, the Netherlands and Vietnamsigned a Strategic Partnership Agreement on Climate Change Adaptation and WaterManagement in 2010; and another on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in2014.

“In that framework we will hold high-level governmental dialogues with Vietnamevery year to discuss how we can create the right conditions for Vietnam’sagriculture to strive. We are expecting the Vietnamese Agriculture Minister toattend a meeting in the Netherlands this fall,” Trooster said.

An approach that is very successful in the Netherlands, she said, is to fostercooperation and consultation of four parties: the government, the privatesector, knowledge institutes and civil society.

“What Vietnam needs is a comprehensive strategy for different parties fromcentral to provincial level, to work together in the sector. To organise suchcoordination well is not easy,” she said.-VNA