Agricultural sector lacks economic development ‘nucleus’

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong made the announcement yesterday at a Q&A session.

The Government issued Decree 57 dated April 17, 2018 on a series of incentive mechanisms and policies to stimulate investments in agriculture and rural area development. Especially, the decree mentions solutions in 2020 on large-scale agricultural development, high-tech application, added value improvement, and sustainable growth. 

Minister Cuong said that the decree aims to enable and create favorable ways for enterprises to invest in agriculture as agricultural enterprises and collectives are regarded as nucleus for large-scale production linkages. 

Over the past three years, the number of agricultural investors grew three fold from 3,000 to 11,800. 

In addition, almost all big groups have focused on the agricultural sector including TH, Vinamilk, Vingroup, and FLC. 

However, the Minister also admitted that the figure remains modest as the agricultural sector attracted only 8% of 750,000 Vietnamese investors. The number was too small for agricultural investors to become development ‘nucleus’ for 8.6 million agricultural households. 

He was convinced that on the basis of proper legal framework, there will be a new wave of investment into the agricultural sector./.

By Kim Loan