Farming sector urged to restructure as competition grows

Vietnam’s farming sector has been urged to drastically and effectively restructure itself amid concern over more intense competition once the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal takes effect.

Attendees to a seminar in Hanoi on August 3 expressed concern that the sector relies heavily on imported breeds, seedlings and animal feed.

While suffering from frequent epidemic diseases, farmers still have limited awareness of food hygiene and environmental protection, leading to low productivity and reliance on imports from TPP member countries, especially the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and several ASEAN Economic Community nations like Thailand.

If the trend continues, farmers will continue losing outputs and profitability.

Nguyen Duc Thanh, Director of the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research, frankly conceded that agriculture is not Vietnam’s strength.

Restructuring should be geared towards improving food hygiene rather than spreading operations on a massive scale, he argued.

Deputy Head of the Animal Livestock Department Tong Xuan Chinh suggesting setting up technical barriers aside from existing tax barriers to bring quality and clean poultry products into Vietnam, adding that vague market information and trade fraud are among hindrances.

In this regard, Thanh proposed issuing guidelines to track the sources of origin of products throughout their manufacturing, processing and distribution process.

The seminar was hosted by the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research under the Vietnam National University – Hanoi’s University of Economic and Businesses.-VNA