Roundup: Vietnam seeks to lure more investment into agriculture

Vietnamese government had preferential policies in taxes, credit, land and training to encourage investment in agriculture and the rural sector, according to Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) head Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

At present, the MARD has promoted the restructuring of agriculture to improve the value of farming products and achieve sustainable development in agriculture. One of the restructuring solutions is to attract more investors, especially for building up chains from production to processing and consumption.

Some local large enterprises, such as TH Group, Dabaco, Vingroup and Hoa Phat, have invested in the sector to promote development, Cuong revealed Saturday at a dialogue on investment.

As a result, the number of enterprises investing in agriculture increased from 2,397 in 2007 to 3,640 in 2015 and to 4,080 in the first nine months of 2016, the minister said, adding that many investors had gained by investing in hi-tech for agriculture.

However, the development of investment in agriculture was unstable while great potential for more investment in the sector was not being tapped, Cuong said. Those enterprises that invest in agriculture had encountered difficulties such as weather and limitations in land, credit and tax policies.

At its latest Taking Stock report, the World Bank (WB) also discussed how Vietnamese agricultural sector can bring about more economic value and better livelihoods for farmers and consumers, using less natural and human resources but without degrading the environment.

Vietnam's agricultural sector has made enormous progress but there are growing concerns about the quality and sustainability of Vietnam's agricultural growth, said the bank on Monday.

Higher productivity has come from more and more inputs and increasing environmental costs, the bank added.

Although Vietnamese agriculture has made progress, it needs much more stimulus for enterprises to invest in the sector.

Only 1 percent of total Vietnamese enterprises have invested in agriculture, 55 percent of which are small-scale, said Cuong.

Most of these investors had not undertaken professional investment activities and not applied hi-tech technologies in their projects, Cuong said.

They had also not cooperated with scientists and farmers in the production chain, which resulted in high production costs, low competitive ability and inefficiency in investment, Cuong said.

According to Vietnamese MARD, the government has focused on improving the investment environment and encouraging enterprises to invest in agriculture, promising a breakthrough soon in preferential policies to instill confidence among investors, especially in hi-tech and clean farming.

In addition, the WB urged Vietnamese government to lead less but facilitate more to transform Vietnam's agriculture and agro-food system.

For example, the government can undertake less direct investment in agriculture while focusing more on facilitating a more active agricultural land market, supporting rural infrastructure, reducing the transaction costs of farmers and agro-enterprises, and revitalizing the country's agricultural innovation system, the WB proposed. Endit