Annual report spotlights enterprise role in agriculture

The Vietnam Business Annual Report 2014 was released in Hanoi on April 15 with a focus on enterprise development in agribusiness.
The Vietnam Business Annual Report 2014 was released in Hanoi on April15 with a focus on enterprise development in agribusiness.

The report analyses the close connection between the development ofenterprises and the quality of economic growth in agriculture.

It notes that agriculture is pivotal to ensuring national foodsecurity, eradicating poverty, and earning hard currency, thuscontributing to political and social stability.

However, there are a substantial number of shortcomings in Vietnam’s agriculture, lagging behind regional rivals.

To address these weaknesses, business engagement in agriculture isnecessary to improve farm produce quality and values, it says.

Mai Xuan Hung, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Committee onEconomic Affairs, said although agriculture continues to act as a pillarof the economy, the connection between farmers and enterprises isunsustainable.

He urged strengthened linkages amongfarmers, companies, cooperatives, and scientific institutes in order topromote large-scale cash crop production, product quality, processing,and export, ultimately optimising the efficiency of agribusiness.

A representative from the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry(VCCI) pointed out major hindrances to Vietnam’s agribusiness, such assmall-scale and scattered production facilities; low quality materials;poor financial strength; lack of access to global scientific,technological and market information; and cumbersome legal regulations.

The VCCI representative suggested businesses improvetheir management capacity, modernise production activities, and paymore attention to niche markets to avoid direct competition with rivalsin major markets.

The annual report noted thatVietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate reached 5.98 percentlast year, the largest since 2011. Export revenue reached 150 billionUSD while imports posted at 148 billion USD, generating a trade surplusof 2 billion USD.

Financial and monetary marketsremained stable with deposit and lending interest rate caps lowered,facilitating business development.

The 4.09 percent annual rise of the consumer price index in 2014 was the slowest in a decade.-VNA

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