Prime Minister: Export of agricultural products cannot be forever 'open path'

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that solving the problem of stagnant agricultural products at the border gate should promote official exports in addition to improving trade with China.

On the morning of December 29, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the National Online Conference summarizing the work in 2021 and implementing the plan for 2022 of the agriculture and rural development sector.

According to Government leaders, epidemics and natural disasters are complicated, but with the drastic intervention of the whole political system and the consensus of the people, initially the state budget revenue for the whole year exceeds the estimate. Total import and export turnover is expected to reach a record level of about 660 billion USD and trade surplus is expected. In that common achievement, there is a very important contribution of the agricultural sector.

However, the head of the Government assessed that the export market of agricultural products still depends on a number of markets, not yet diversified; have not yet built international national brands...

Referring to the congestion of agricultural products at some border gates, the Prime Minister said that the basic and long-term solution is to promote official export with qualified products.

In the past time, in order to promote trade relations between Vietnam and China, the head of the Government has repeatedly asked the two sides to create favorable conditions for cross-border goods trade, especially agricultural and aquatic products. Vietnam's seasonal products and fruits, contributing to achieving the goal of balancing the trade balance between the two countries.

The Prime Minister also continuously directed the Ministries of Industry and Trade, Agriculture and Rural Development to implement solutions to improve trade activities with the Chinese side. Border provinces actively work with Chinese localities to have appropriate solutions in epidemic prevention and export.

He emphasized, it is necessary to implement methodically and synchronously the tasks in all stages, from planning, forecasting markets, raw material areas, applying science and technology, improving processing capacity, ensuring food safety. Food safety, branding, geographical indications, designs, packaging, post-harvest labels, market solutions, capital for farmers and businesses...

"These are very basic problems that need a roadmap to be solved with the sharing, joining hands of all parties and international cooperation. It is not possible to 'trail the open road' forever. Must do it to the end, do it all. for our national interests, for our legitimate interests," Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the National Online Conference summarizing the work in 2021 and implementing the plan for 2022 of the agriculture and rural development sector. Photo: VGP

The Prime Minister also requested to diversify markets, diversify and improve product quality, competitiveness of the industry and products, effectively exploiting 17 signed free trade agreements.

He said, the agricultural industry must set higher goals for 2022, namely growth of 3% or more, exports are higher than this year because "when the support goes back, the country goes backwards". The bottlenecks need to be carefully reviewed, continue to improve institutions, mechanisms and policies for sustainable and in-depth agricultural development, improve labor productivity based on science, technology, and innovation. , convert number.

In addition, the sector needs administrative reform, decentralization and decentralization along with individualization of responsibilities, reasonable resource allocation and capacity building of staff. At the same time, the marine economy must be interested in development, in which to promote marine farming and sustainable seafood exploitation; remove the "yellow card", prevent and strictly handle illegal fishing vessels, and at the same time handle environmental problems in aquaculture well.

"It is necessary to calculate, balance and allocate investment resources so that farmers can enjoy the results of digital transformation in agriculture," he said, and asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment. and Invest together with ministries, branches and localities to do well in statistics to have accurate input data to serve policy making close to reality, to solve weak problems.

Improving the material and spiritual life of farmers, especially in remote areas, border areas, islands and disadvantaged people is a goal that the Government leaders pay special attention to. He asked to focus on completing the construction of the new countryside, "working day and night, doing it well"; ensuring social security in rural areas, so that farmers can still improve their lives, income and strive to get rich in their homeland.

According to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2021 in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic affecting life, economy and society, disrupting global supply chains, directly affecting production and export, import, and consumption of agricultural products..., the agricultural sector still has a remarkable growth.

The added value of the whole industry increased by about 2.85% to 2.9%, of which agriculture increased by over 3.18%, forestry by over 3.85%, fisheries by over 1.85%, the coverage rate Forest coverage reached 42.02%, the percentage of communes meeting new rural standards was 68.2%.

According to preliminary statistics, the export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products achieved a record high of 48.6 billion USD, up 14.9% compared to 2020 (41.2 billion USD). In which, main agricultural products are more than 21 billion USD, an increase of over 13%; main forest products nearly 16 billion USD, up 20.7%; seafood nearly 9 billion USD, up 5.6%; animal husbandry USD 434 million, up 2.1%.

There are 10 groups of products with export turnover of over 1 billion USD, of which 6 items have a turnover of over 3 billion USD (wood and wood products; shrimp; vegetables; cashew nuts; rice and rubber). Rice output reached 43.86 million tons, meeting the needs of domestic consumption and export. The proportion of high-quality rice accounts for over 89%, the export price of rice will increase from $496 per ton in 2020 to $503 per ton in 2021...

Agriculture and rural development sector nationwide strives to achieve the growth rate of the whole industry in 2022 at 2.8-2.9%; production value growth rate reached 2.9-3%; total export turnover reached about 49 billion USD.

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