Due to high production costs and a lack of processing and branding, agricultural products in the country are losing their competitiveness. Many experts believe that Vietnam needs to improve its value chain to meet the demands of the global market.
Agricultural export turnover reached more than 30.8 billion USD in 2014, 11.2% higher than last year. However, the amount does not reflect the full potential of Vietnam’s agricultural industry. According to experts, the main reason is that roughly 80-to-90% of Vietnamese agro products are exported in their raw forms and must be processed through foreign 3rd parties. Other reasons include small-scale production, poor teamwork skills, and outdated technology.
At the seminar, National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said that investment in science and technology would help boost agricultural production. Product quality can be improved through close monitoring, from the production to the processing and consumption stages. Moreover, plants and animals with high economic value should be added to increase product value.
Moving toward a modern, safe, and sustainable agriculture by developing value chain models is a necessary task. For international integration, strong links between the economic sector and farmers are needed to reduce production costs, increase profits, improve competitiveness, and create brands.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and ASEAN Economic Community will not only create opportunities--they will also pose challenges for Vietnam’s agricultural products when competing with countries in the region. Therefore, finding the right market is an urgent task for related sectors.
In order to achieve agricultural sustainability, the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Industry and Trade must work together to find the right outlet, organize production, and ensure the right output.
Despite recent achievements in large-scale field models, the keys to developing a sustainable agricultural value chain are still high product value and low production costs. Policy makers as well as farmers need to work harder to achieve such goals.
