Policies on credit, human resources and agricultural encouragement to expand opportunities for farmers were highly regarded by foreign professors in a seminar in Hanoi on August 11.

Vietnam should create such policies as well as pay due attention to the restructuring of professions having a strong impact on farmers’ livelihood, Professor Ari Kokko from the Stockholm School of Economics said at the seminar “The role of the agricultural sector in times of crisis and the restructuring of the economy.”

Investment in sci-tech and trade promotion is also very important because it could help farmers make higher-quality products and thus bigger profits, Professor David Dapice from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University told the seminar hosted by the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development.

Creating jobs for labourers who lost their jobs in cities and returned to the countryside is another measure to ensure social security and agricultural development, Dr. Dang Kim Son, head of the institute said.

At the seminar, the two foreign professors delivered speeches on the impact of the global financial crisis on the world in general and on China in particular in the hope of drawing lessons for Vietnam.

They also commented on the recovery of Vietnam’s economy./.