‘BOOST’ NEEDED IN LAND POLICIES

“Agricultural and rural development is always the most important task in Vietnam,” said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong at the Workshop on “Theory and Practice in New Countryside Construction in Vietnam” recently held in northern Nam Dinh province.

Early finish

Vietnam has a golden population structure; the agricultural GDP expanded by 2.95% a year in 2011-2018; and agricultural production has strongly shifted to products of international competitiveness, higher quality and higher productivity. Per capita income in rural areas increased by 3.5 times and the income gap between urban and rural areas narrowed from 2.1 times in 2008 to 1.8 times in 2017. In three years, agribusiness companies tripled.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, survey results by some research institutions showed that about 84.78% of rural households are satisfied with the new countryside construction process. This result reflected the consensus and support of rural people for the cause of new countryside construction in the past nearly 10 years. New countryside construction has clearly changed the face of rural areas, far better than the expected outcome in the context of domestic hardships and limited agricultural and rural investment resources. In this first phase, investment has been channeled for rural infrastructure development and it must balance sustainable, environmental and cultural factors in new countryside construction in the next period, he said.

Land policy revamp needed

The drive for one-year earlier completion of the pilot program for new countryside construction in the 2010-2020 period is Resolution 26-NQ/TW, a milestone of great significance that timely addresses comprehensive, clear, specific approaches to agricultural, farmer and rural development. After 10 years of piloting new countryside construction with a lot of achievements based on 19 criteria, many limitations have also been revealed and will need to be addressed in the upcoming period. This workshop was an opportunity for policymakers to listen to enthusiastic scientists, agriculturalists and business community about rural development.

According to Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, in order for rural development to succeed, land policies must encourage investment in agriculture and apply scientific and technological strategies. Concurrent with Mr. Thien, Vice Chairman of Hanoi City People’s Committee Nguyen Van Suu said, although Hanoi has a rapid urbanization pace, agriculture is still a key economic sector through two programs launched by the Municipal Party Committee for the 2016-2020 period. Having a clear land mechanism with a strong decentralization of responsibility and applying electronic trading floors for agricultural products will make agriculture play a bigger role in the city’s economy.

Mr. Le Huy Ngo, Former Minister of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said, new countryside construction must help narrow the gap between rural and urban life, maintain the new countryside construction program in deltas and mountainous areas, deliver sustainable development, and apply science and technology into mainstream thinking about land policies to leverage Vietnamese agriculture to take off, to get big orders and win on the international market.

Source: VCCI