Highly agree with the proposal to establish a National Rice Council

At the meeting to propose the establishment of a National Rice Council held on the afternoon of August 6 in Hanoi, localities, associations, and businesses all expressed their strong agreement with the proposal to establish a National Rice Council.

The meeting attracted many representatives of ministries, associations, businesses and localities.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nam - Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) - said that for a long time, the rice industry has received attention from the Government and ministries. Annually, the export turnover of rice is about 4 billion USD, although not as high as some other industries in the agricultural sector, this is an industry that holds an important position because it is closely related to the issue of national food security.

“The results of the rice industry in recent years have been very successful. Since 2016, the Government has not had to assign localities to buy and store rice but has succeeded in production and export with increasingly diverse markets. At many times, we had no rice to sell. Rice exports have also changed with reduced output but increasingly improved quality,” Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nam pointed out.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nam spoke at the meeting.

However, the demand for rice in the market has changed a lot after the Covid-19 pandemic. Many countries have changed their import policies to ensure national food security. This will affect our country's rice exports. Therefore, the Chairman of VFA believes that the establishment of a National Rice Council is necessary to develop sustainable rice production and export.

Along with the issue of building policies for rice production and export, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nam also proposed that the National Rice Council pay attention to rice imports.

Also expressing his agreement with the establishment of the National Rice Council, Mr. Nguyen Tien Cuong - Head of the Economic Department, Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union - said that the Farmers' Union highly agreed with the contents in the draft to establish the National Rice Council.

Representatives of ministries, branches and enterprises give opinions on the establishment of the National Rice Council.

From the perspective of a rice trading and exporting enterprise, Mr. Tran Son Ha - General Director of the Northern Food Corporation (Vinafood 1) - agreed with the opinion of the Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association; highly agreed with the Project to establish a National Rice Council to solve inter-sectoral macro issues. At the same time, enterprises have the opinion that the Council should consider adding the issue of managing domestic rice consumption.

On the local side, Mr. Pham Thien Nghia - Chairman of Dong Thap Provincial People's Committee shared that Dong Thap highly welcomed the idea of ​​the two Ministers and especially appreciated the fact that the two Ministers discussed and consulted on the proposal to establish a National Rice Council.

"We hope that the Ministers will promote the establishment of this council sooner and faster to effectively remove difficulties for regions and industries in order to promote advantages and strengths in developing important industries of the country in the coming time" - Mr. Pham Thien Nghia expressed his opinion.

Mr. Nguyen Si Lam - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of An Giang province - shared that An Giang is a key agricultural production locality in the Mekong Delta region. The local rice area is about 630,000 hectares with an output of 4 million tons. The province is also expanding the area of ​​high-quality rice to about 152,000 hectares, producing according to green standards and low emissions. Therefore, the establishment of the National Rice Council is considered necessary by the locality, creating excitement and peace of mind for farmers.

Need for close coordination policy

Speaking at the meeting, representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs all raised the issue of the need for a policy of close coordination between the members of the council. Accordingly, Ms. Pham Thi Thanh - representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - expressed her agreement with the necessity of establishing a National Rice Council.

“However, currently, we have many different councils, so we need to decentralize the responsibilities of the units in this council to bring about the best results,” Ms. Pham Thi Thanh shared.

Dr. Tran Cong Thang - Director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development (IPSARD) said that the rice industry has not only played an important role in stabilizing the economy and society but also helped to raise the position of Vietnamese agricultural products through exports. Therefore, there needs to be an institution to handle cross-sectoral and comprehensive issues. This institution is responsible for: consulting, handling major issues of the rice industry, providing orientation for the common sustainable development goal of the whole industry. The National Rice Council is a suitable institution.

In this institution, the State does not deeply intervene in the market but ensures the role of guiding and regulating activities, industry associations, mobilizing public-private partnerships to create more resources from international cooperation and socialized resources. The institution has the participation and close coordination of ministries, representatives of enterprises, localities and must have the voice of rice growers.

Concluding the meeting, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that currently, there are many issues that require the National Rice Council to advise on policies and handle emerging issues in the Vietnamese rice industry.

"If India reopens its rice exports, what will be Vietnam's policy response? We must take action immediately. With today's thinking, no single sector is capable of solving a problem, but it must be inter-sectoral. The National Rice Council is the unit that plans and advises on major policies, advises on solving arising problems, diplomatic issues, and the image of the rice industry for the Government and the Prime Minister to develop the rice industry sustainably" - Minister Le Minh Hoan said.

Agreeing, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said that in order to move towards a multi-value rice industry, with diverse products, diverse markets, diverse supply sources, and increased value for rice growers, a National Rice Council is needed to have effective coordination regulations between ministries, branches, localities, associations, and industries in coordinating common activities for national rice production, business, and export. In the coming time, the two ministries will receive comments from ministries, branches, and localities to complete and soon submit to the Government for consideration and establishment of a National Rice Council.