Hanoi (VNA) – Businessesfrom Taiwan (China) have signed several agreements on agricultural cooperationwith the Vietnam Organic Agri-Economy Institute after recent fact-finding tripsto Tay Ninh, Dong Thap and Lam Dong provinces.
Nguyen Ngoc Bao, Chairman of the VietnamCooperative Alliance (VCA), said under the deals, the two sides will transfertechnologies of crossbreeding and producing plant and animal varieties that matchthe soil, climate and manpower conditions in Vietnam.
They will work together to help localagricultural cooperatives apply high technologies in a bid to develop valuechains in agricultural production. The Taiwanese firms will also assist inmanpower training, exchange of experts and support for agriculture-basedstart-ups.
Notably, a programme on developing the start-upecosystem in Vietnam’s rural areas will be developed. This programme aims toassist young people to start their careers in agriculture and in theirhometowns in rural areas, Bao noted.
Van Thinh Phat Group and some partners havemobilised 200 billion VND (8.7 million USD) to fund the first phase of theprogramme, whose coordinating board and some other businesses, including SunnyWorld Investment and Development Corporation and Saigon Commercial Bank, willcontinue calling for investment in this programme.
Beneficiaries are young people withdisadvantages who have feasible capital use plans and production-business ideasbut lack funding. The programme will also finance part of the capital for extremelypoor families.
Bao said Vietnam is facing a shortage of youngworkforce for cooperatives, so it is necessary to learn from Taiwan’sagricultural start-up experience in the programme.
This is a solution helpingto strongly develop Vietnam’s agriculture and reach the target of having over35,000 cooperatives, including 15,000 agricultural ones, by 2020, he added.-VNA