Prospects for Vietnam’s agricultural market

A seminar on prospects for Vietnam’s agricultural market was held in Hanoi on June 17 by the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development.

The seminar attracted international experts from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Bank (WB), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and leading Vietnamese experts.

The seminar provided information about the future of agriculture, particularly seafood, rice, coffee and livestock in Vietnam and the world and discussed sustainable agricultural development and high quality production.

The Vietnamese agriculture, forestry and seafood sectors can expect to face a number of difficulties in the next two years during the process of economic restructuring, including rising inflation and costs, tightened monetary and credit policies, instability in the international agricultural market, climate change, and disease epidemics.

The sectors play an important role in the national economy accounting for more than 20 percent of the GDP and 28 percent of the total exports in 2010. However, during the process of global economic integration, agriculture has not reached its potential and strength because of the weakness in forecasting and analyzing the markets.

In 2010, the world saw many changes in the strategies for agricultural development by most strong exporters of farm products. For example Thailand and the US are now focusing on sustainable development and their domestic markets.

Tags: Vietnam agriculture