Workshop highlights agriculture’s efforts to weather COVID-19 impacts

The assessment was made at a workshop held on November 11 to review the sector’s performance in the first nine months of 2021.

According to the General Statistics Office, agriculture in the third quarter of 2021 increased by 1.04% against the same period last year while the overall growth from January-September was 2.74%.

Agriculture, forestry and fishery exports in the first nine months of 2021 were estimated at US$35.5 billion, up 17.7% from a year earlier.

Such results have been attributed to the sector’s prompt efforts to address obstacles to the production, distribution, processing and sale of agricultural goods as social distancing measures were imposed in many provinces and cities to contain the virus.

However, according to agricultural experts, the sector will continue to face challenges in the fourth quarter as the coronavirus still threatens to disrupt supply chains while the prices of feed are rising sharply.