Hanoi (VNA) -🌱 The agricultural sector has surpassed manygoals in 2019, it was reported at an online conference held by the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment in Hanoi on December 23.

Facing trade wars and tightened regulations set by foreignmarkets, Vietnamhas been still able to record a 41.3 billion USD turnover for agricultural and aqua-culturalproducts, rising 3.5 percent compared to 2018, according to the reportdelivered at the conference. Meanwhile, prices of these products were reduced by between 10and 15 percent. Besides export turnover, twoother main goals that have been achieved are forestry coverage of 41.85 percent andthe ratio of new rural area-certified communes of 54 percent. This year has been difficult for the livestock industry due tocontinuous diseases which have caused unprecedented consequences, said ministerNguyen Xuan Cuong. Until November, African swine fever saw 5.9 million pigsslaughtered. Hanoi alone lost 30 percent of its herd which is equivalent to 1 trillion VND (43.1 million USD). The agriculture minister also admitted several shortcomings thathamper the growth of the sector and need to be addressed soon. The pace of agricultural restructuring and new rural areabuilding remain uneven between localities, and the slow progress in resolving issuesrelated to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and regaining thetrust of the European Union, the risks of diseases affecting livestock andcrops, and food hygiene continue to haunt the sector in 2019, Cuong said.  Against all odds, more than 2,700 new agricultural enterprises were established in 2019, increasing 25.3percent compared to 2018 and increasing the total number of agriculturalbusinesses to 12,581. Seventeen major agricultural projects came into operation in2019 with the total funding of more than 20 trillion VND (862.3 million USD), thanks to improvements in theinvestment environment which created motivation for investors to join theindustry. The sector’s trade surplus reached a record 9.9 billion USD, up 14 percent compared to last year. Tencommodities with export turnover of more than 1 billion USD continued to be maintained, includingfive product groups earning 3 billion USD which are shrimp, coffee and cashew nuts. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hailed the sector for its achievementsin 2019 despite difficult conditions, saying it needs to continue to respond toclimate change, apply technology in agricultural production and improve qualityof human resources. He also urged the sector to improve its production qualityand expand markets to other countries, especially the EU, next year. The PM asked the ministry to build amodern, globally-integrated and sustainable agricultural sector alongwith new rural areas. “To achieve the target of 2.8 to 3 percent of GDP growth, thesector should take advantage of tropical agriculture and develop high-qualityspecialised areas with products meeting food safety requirements,” he said. Minister Cuong said in 2020, the ministry expects to accelerate theconnection between raw material areas with food processing factories andlogistics systems to expand export markets and link with the global value chain. The ministry plans to choose "locomotive" enterpriseswhich possess strong financial and technical capacity and marketaccessibility to efficiently lead value chains. The legislative reform needs to be continued to cut red tape andoffer assistance policies and proper legal frameworks to promote landaccumulation for large-scale, industrial agricultural production. The Government expects to submit the amended land law to theNational Assembly for approval in 2020 to achieve this goal, he said. Cuongstressed the significance of 2020 as the due date of the five-year plan from2016 to 2020 which aims to boost the sector’s GDP growth from 2.8 to 3 percentand the export turnover of more than 42 billion USD./.