SGGPO 08/15/2023 16:40

“The agricultural sector is facing three “changes”: climate change, market fluctuations, and changes in the world’s consumption trends towards green and sustainable consumption,” said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan answers questions

Continuing the 25th session of the National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC), on the afternoon of August 15, 2023, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai chaired the question and answer session with Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan.

The question and answer session was connected online with 62 points in provinces/cities nationwide and broadcast live on Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam Television, and Vietnam National Assembly Television.

President Vo Van Thuong talks with Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha before the question and answer session on the afternoon of August 15. Photo: QUANG PHUC

Speaking before answering questions, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan acknowledged that agriculture is always a pillar in difficult economic situations.

“The agricultural sector has been, is and will be facing three “changes”: climate change, market fluctuations, and changes in the world’s consumption trends towards green and sustainable consumption. From these realities, the agricultural sector has persisted in implementing a comprehensive long-term strategy, flexibly handling situations, and synchronously managing in the short term,” he said.

Reflecting on the current situation of farmers with low incomes, unstable lives, and high risk of people abandoning their land and fields, Deputy Ly Tiet Hanh (Binh Dinh) asked the Minister to inform him of the Minister's viewpoint and solutions in the coming time to overcome this problem.

View of Dien Hong hall on the afternoon of August 15

Meanwhile, Deputy Pham Hung Thang (Ha Nam) wanted the Minister to clarify solutions to create links between production and consumption of agricultural products according to the value chain to promote mechanization, reduce logistics costs, and encourage innovation.

Responding to a question about chain linkages, Minister Le Minh Hoan said that this is the agricultural sector’s strategy to change the fragmented, small-scale, and spontaneous state of our country’s agriculture. Therefore, cooperation between producers and linkages between producers and businesses along a chain of products are necessary.

"Only chain linkage can improve the quality of our country's agricultural products and transform agricultural products into commercial products, ensuring market standards," Minister Le Minh Hoan emphasized.

Delegate Le Thanh Hoan (Hai Duong) raised questions

However, the Minister also agreed with the delegates' assessment of the slow linkage situation. According to reports from localities, only about 20% of agricultural areas are in industry linkage chains and not all chains are sustainable - the Minister provided information and assessed that the most important issue is to improve the sustainability of these linkage chains in the coming time. Only then can we overcome the situation of good harvests and low prices as well as other sad stories such as farmers betraying their trust in businesses, or businesses and traders abandoning their deposits, causing farmers to suffer...

Minister Le Minh Hoan cited a “hot” story this morning, durian prices in the Central Highlands skyrocketed when businesses outside the chain joined in. Accordingly, traders only need to raise prices for some purpose, and farmers will be willing to abandon the chain and break their commitments with businesses.

“I just received information this morning from the Dak Lak Durian Association. Each enterprise invests in a chain and warehouse, standardizing China’s requirements on traceability, growing area codes, etc. But if just one enterprise enters this chain for some reason and raises the price, the whole chain and the entire cooperation will be broken,” said Minister Le Minh Hoan.

Regarding rice land planning, Deputy Le Thanh Hoan (Hai Duong) asked: "The National Assembly has issued a Resolution on national land use, which clearly stipulates the rice land area. I would like to ask the Minister to let us know if 3.5 million hectares of rice land have been finalized so that people can cultivate with peace of mind"?

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan affirmed that he will work with localities to analyze the situation when it is necessary to convert rice land.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said that 10 years ago, the whole country had over 4 million hectares of rice land, now there are 3.9 million hectares. Rice land planning is part of land planning so it will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

“However, I think that all localities have stabilized the rice acreage, and the province's planning has also divided areas for agricultural land and rice land. Any planning cannot stand still, land conversion is a trade-off. I suggest that when converting rice land, businesses need to be aware that behind it are the people, the industry, the related service chain... We will work with the locality to analyze the situation when conversion is needed, considering between development and preservation,” the head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed.