US workshop boosts Vietnamese agricultural export

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese and US agricultural experts and policy makers gathered at a recent workshop in Arlington city of the US’s Virginia State to seek ways to boost export of Vietnamese agricultural products.

The event was jointly hosted by the VietAgGlobal and Vietnam Education Fund (VEF) following the success of a similar event on sustainable agriculture held at the US’s Arizona University in 2017.

Participants said besides opportunities, Vietnam’s agricultural export is facing numerous challenges, which requires joint efforts of relevant agencies, enterprises, and scientists to improve products’ quality and expand export markets.

Dr Nguyen Quoc Vong from the RMIT University (Australia) said Vietnam needs to focus on products that other nations have demand for, rather than on those Vietnam wants to export.

He also underlined the need to seek ways to lower Vietnam’s shipment costs and simplify export procedures to reduce prices.

Meanwhile, Sonny Ramaswamy, Director of the US’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) said Vietnam needs to give top priority to improving products’ quality and then to lowering prices, elaborating that these two factors are , crucial for not only Vietnamese products but also those of other nations to ensure their market share.

Participants also attached significance to technology transfer, assistance of authorities, scientists and enterprises for farmers, and young scientists training.

VietAgGlobal is a network connecting Vietnamese students, post-graduates and young entrepreneurs in the US to make contributions to their home country.

The workshop not only helped improve products’ quality and expand export markets, but also served as a bridge connecting the the Governments of Vietnam and the US, and among the Government, scientists and private enterprises of Vietnam.

Vietnam’s export value of agro, forestry and seafood products reached a record 36.37 billion USD in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent. The export of major agricultural products was estimated at 18.96 billion USD, a year-on-year growth of 15.7 percent.

Total rice exports for the year reached 5.89 million tonnes, earning 2.66 billion USD, a year-on-year surge of 22.4 percent in volume and 23.2 percent in value.-VNA