On the morning of November 24, 2024, at the Conference Center 11 Le Hong Phong, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union coordinated with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to organize the Forum "Chairman of the Vietnam Farmers' Union - Minister of Natural Resources and Environment listens to farmers speak".

Attending and co-chairing the Forum were Comrade Luong Quoc Doan - Member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Vietnam Farmers' Union; Comrade Do Duc Duy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.

Also attending the Forum were the Standing members of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union, representatives of Central Committees, Ministries and Branches; representatives of departments, offices, institutes and schools of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; representatives of Committees and units under the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union; representatives of Farmers' Unions of provinces and cities, officials of Farmers' Unions at all levels; experts, scientists, enterprises in the fields of agriculture and land...

Consulting farmers' opinions before the Prime Minister's Dialogue with Farmers Conference in 2024

Speaking at the opening of the forum, comrade Luong Quoc Doan - Member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union emphasized:

Over the past years, under the wise leadership of the Party, the effective and flexible management of the Government, the drastic participation of ministries, branches, and localities, our country's agriculture, farmers, and rural areas have made remarkable progress, the lives of farmers and rural residents have been improved in all aspects, and the appearance of the countryside has changed profoundly in an increasingly modern and civilized direction.

However, with the characteristics of agriculture, farmers and rural areas in Vietnam, there are still many shortcomings and limitations; both objectively and subjectively such as: complexity in land management and use; land accumulation and concentration; small-scale production; the transformation of production thinking and the application of green production technology by farmers still face many difficulties and challenges; regarding rural environmental protection, especially in agricultural production, regarding household waste, craft villages in rural areas, especially in mountainous areas, remote areas, there are still many difficulties due to the impact of climate change, the appearance of extreme weather patterns, natural disasters, storms and floods...

With the theme: "Unlocking land resources, aiming for NetZero goals, protecting rural environment", this Forum is an opportunity for us to listen to representatives of typical farmers, cooperatives, businesses operating in the fields of agriculture, rural areas... reflect, propose, and recommend difficulties and problems related to the implementation of the Land Law recently passed by the National Assembly; the management, operation, and enforcement of environmental protection laws, and solutions towards the NetZero goals.

The forum is also a premise to listen to and synthesize the opinions of farmers, cooperatives, and businesses before the Prime Minister's Dialogue Conference with Farmers in 2024.

Joining hands with farmers towards the goal of NetZero by 2050

Speaking at the forum, Minister Do Duc Duy said that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union are two agencies with a tradition of effective coordination and have signed a Work Coordination Program through many stages.

The two agencies have coordinated to organize many meaningful events, in which the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has received great coordination and support from the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union, as well as the companionship of local Farmers' Unions; especially in organizing the collection of people's opinions in the process of building important legal documents that have a great impact on rural people such as: Land Law, Environmental Protection Law, Water Resources Law, Law on Natural Resources, Marine and Island Environment; as well as important plans and strategies of the Natural Resources and Environment sector...

According to Minister Do Duc Duy, Vietnam's rural areas with more than 62 million people living there play a very important role in the country's socio-economic development and the Vietnam Farmers' Union has formed an association at all levels from central to local levels with a large number of members.

Unleashing land resources, protecting the environment, proactively preventing natural disasters, responding to climate change, aiming at the goal of sustainable development of agriculture, farmers and rural areas, actively contributing to the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country has always been the consistent policy of the Party and State.

Reality requires us to further improve the efficiency of natural resource use; effectively address challenges of environmental pollution; proactively prevent natural disasters and respond to climate change, because these are issues that directly affect the development goals of agriculture, farmers and rural areas.

Along with that, it is estimated that agricultural emissions account for about 43% of total national emissions, equivalent to 65 to 150 million tons of CO2/year, requiring us to join hands with farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the agricultural sector, towards the NetZero goal by 2050.

According to Minister Do Duc Duy, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment always identifies Farmers' Associations at all levels as an extended system, an important force in implementing strategies, mechanisms, policies, and state management tasks of the Industry, in which: effective management and use of land and water resources; environmental protection; natural disaster prevention and response to climate change are always priority tasks.

Therefore, the forum "Listening to farmers speak" with the theme "Unlocking land resources, aiming for NetZero goals, protecting rural environment" held today is an opportunity for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to convey messages, disseminate new and important policy mechanisms to each level of farmers' association, to spread to every farmer across the country.

Proposing solutions to motivate the development of rural areas and farmers

According to Minister Do Duc Duy, at the Forum, the organizing committee hopes to listen to the thoughts and aspirations of farmers nationwide in general, and the localities in the Northern region in particular, related to the state management areas of the Industry. In particular, they hope that people will share good initiatives and effective methods; at the same time, recommend and propose feasible solutions to remove difficulties, unlock resources, and create motivation for strong development of the agricultural sector, farmers, and rural areas.

In that spirit, Minister Do Duc Duy proposed that the Forum focus on exchanging and discussing the following key issues:

Firstly, mechanisms, policies and laws on land and their impacts on socio-economic development in rural areas; proposals and recommendations to improve the effectiveness of implementing new policies of the 2024 Land Law.

Second, introduce good initiatives, good experiences, and effective models in disseminating, popularizing, and guiding the implementation of the Land Law; in deploying and applying new policy points to promote land resources to serve the restructuring of agriculture, developing the agricultural economy, and building sustainable new rural areas.

Third, share good models and effective methods in propaganda, dissemination, mobilization and guidance for farmers to protect the rural environment according to the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection; proposals and recommendations of farmers' associations at all levels with state agencies to do better in this field.

Fourth, share models of management, collection, and treatment of agricultural waste and by-products; measures to manage plant protection chemicals... in the direction of recycling and reuse, aiming at developing a circular, low-carbon economy in agriculture.

Fifth, exchange and sharing between representatives of ministries, departments and branches with Farmers' Associations at all levels and farmers to access land and financial resources, to promote the transformation of agricultural economic structure, sustainable livelihoods and technology transformation in the fields of green agriculture, organic agriculture, circular economy, contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, towards the goal of net zero emissions by 2050 in Vietnam.