Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Department of CropProduction under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) hasset the goals of 1.7 percent production growth and 21 billion USD in exportrevenue for the cultivation sector in 2019.
To that end, compared to 2018, the sector must earn anadditional 1.5 billion USD in export revenue, said Vice Director of theDepartment Le Van Duc at a conference in Hanoi on January 9.
Le Thanh Tung, another Vice Director of the department,said that 1 billion USD is expected to come from fruit, and the rest from otherproducts such as cassava, industrial plants, and mushrooms.
The most promising fruits with high export revenueinclude lemon, mango, grapefruit, longan, and rambutan, according to Tung who stressedthe need to enhance the productivity of farms and expand the market.
Nguyen Quoc Manh, head of the department’s Division ofIndustrial Plants, said that it will be hard to met the goal of 16-16.5 billionUSD in exports of industrial plants’ products this year as 2018 was a bumpercrop year for almost all plants.
During 2019, the sector must maintain the same output as2018, said Manh, showing his optimism as the majority of industrial plant farmshave been under harvest.
Addressing the event, MARD Deputy Minister Le QuocDoanh said that the outstanding results of 2018 is a challenge for the sectorin 2019. He asked the sector to continue the reform process, while focusing ondeveloping major products such as rice, cassava, peppercorn, and cashew.
Localities should reorganise the production of farmerstowards larger scales, and closer connectivity both among farmers and betweenfarmers and businesses to form a production chain, he said.
Doanh also asked for research into better plantvarieties; the strengthening of mechanisation in production and harvest; aswell as the application of high technology to enhance product quality, foodsafety, and the satisfaction of sustainable production standards.
In 2018, the cultivation sector’s production value hit482 trillion VND, up 2.52 percent year-on-year, with the export revenue of agriculturalproducts reaching 19.5 billion USD, a rise of 3 percent over 2017.
Changes were seen in the structure of cultivation,with a drop of 138,000ha of rice farms and 60,000ha of maize farms, along withan expansion of 48,000ha of fruit plants, and 23,000ha of vegetable farms.
Despite the reduction in rice growing area, riceoutput still reached 43.98 million tones, about 1.22 million tonnes higher thanthat in 2017. –VNA
VNA
