Hanoi (VNA) – Over the past years,Vietnam’s agricultural sector has reaped marked achievements, helping ensure nationalfood security.

Vietnamese staples such as coffee, rice, rubber,cashew nuts, pepper, fruit, seafood, wood and timber products have gained firmfoothold in the global market.

Statistics show that the sector’s gross domesticproduct (GDP) grows about 2.5 percent while its production value expands by2.73 percent each year.

During the 2013-2017 period, the sector’s totalexport turnover reached 153 billion USD, with 36.2 billion USD earned in 2017.Seven out of the 10 major products saw export turnover exceeding 1 billion USD.

To create impressive changes in agriculturalproduction, the Vietnam Farmers’ Union (VFU) has signed a cooperation programmewith the Ministry of Science and Technology, under which the two sides joinhands in implementing scientific and technological tasks during the 2016-2020period, according to Thao Xuan Sung, Chairman of the VFU Central Committee.

The union’s chapters have carried out technologytransfer and scientific application in production, he added.

Thanks to emulation campaigns, many householdbusinesses, farms, small- and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives havebeen formed, helping hundreds of thousands of households escape from poverty.

The project on vocational training for rurallabourers by 2020, approved by the Prime Minister in 2009, has proven effectivesince nearly 210,000 people had received vocational training as of 2017, the vocationaltraining management department under the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment reported.

Leu Vu Dieu, Vice Chairman of the VFU CentralCommittee, said the union’s chapters have paid due attention to expanding andimproving the quality of vocational training services.

They have organised more than 300,000 trainingcourses on scientific and technological application in production for 15million members and built over 60,000 Vietgap (Vietnam Good AgriculturalPractices) models, he said.

At a recent working session with the VFU, head ofthe Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission Nguyen Van Binh highlightedthe important role of the union in the sustainable development of the agriculture-basedeconomy.

The official urged the union’s chapters to supportfarmers in developing large-scale production, applying high-tech and ensuringquality and high added values of products, thus meeting requirements of the internationalintegration.

To that end, it is necessary to connect farmers withcooperatives and businesses, he stressed.

Binh also asked the VFU to closely coordinate withministries, agencies and localities in order to encourage farmers to realisethe Party and State’s policies on agricultural restructuring in tandem with theefforts in new-style rural area building and sustainable poverty reduction.

At the same time, the union should pay moreattention to improving knowledge and capacity of its members, and protecting theirlegitimate rights and interests, making them the subject of theindustrialisation and modernisation of agriculture and rural areas, he stressed.-VNA