PM approves agricultural restructuring plan in 2017-2020

Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a plan to restructure the agriculture sector in 2017-2020, which aims to make the best use of advantages in each region and locality.

The plan targets gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 3 percent per year by 2020. Average labour productivity is expected to expand by 3.5 percent per annum and the proportion of labour in agriculture will fall to below 40 percent. About 22 percent of agricultural workers will receive training.

Fifty percent of communes are hoped to become new rural areas while 15,000 cooperatives and unions of agricultural cooperatives will operate. The plan also targets most residents in rural areas having access to hygienic water.

In cultivation, the country will shift to grow crops adaptive to climate change and suitable with each region, develop concentrated and large-scale production areas, adopt chain production for national key products, and encourage the development of clean and organic agriculture.

The plan also calls for more applications of science and technology in the sector to create high-quality varieties, adopting intensive farming, reducing the use of pesticides, replacing ineffective rice cultivation land to grow other crops, and promoting aquatic breeding.

The country will also develop household livestock, organic and ecological animal husbandry, and value production chains in addition to building brands, reorganising the slaughtering system to ensure food safety and hygiene and environmental protection, inspecting and controlling diseases effectively, and tightening the examination of the use of veterinary drugs and additives in the field. The livestock industry aims for annual production growth of 4.5-5 percent.

Meanwhile, the seafood sector will promote offshore fishing and invest in modernising processing equipment and storage on board to reduce losses, with growth of 4.5-5 percent per year expected.-VNA