WEBINAR ON AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC - VIETNAMESE INTELLECTUALS FORUM IN JAPAN 2021
, 24/11/2021 14:11On November 21, 2021, the webinar "Agricultural economy: The development of agricultural economy in Mekong Delta" was organized online. The event is one of the in-depth discussions in a series of seminars at the Vietnamese Intellectuals Forum in Japan this year. At the virtual seminar, speakers and experts expressed their views on the agricultural picture in Vietnam as well as in the Mekong Delta. Future plans for the development of the agricultural economy were also discussed, aiming to improve the position of Vietnam agriculture in the world map.
Guest speakers joining in the event were Vu Kim Hanh - Chairman of Vietnam Association of High- Quality Goods, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Tran Dang Xuan - Head of the Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry - Hiroshima University, Dr. Nguyen Huu Tri - Lecturer, Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, Dr. Pham Viet Dung - Faculty of Urban Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Delivering the opening speech, Le Minh Hoan - the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasized the importance of agriculture in general and in the Mekong Delta in particular to the whole development of Vietnam’s economy. The Mekong Delta has a particularly important strategic and geo-economic position. The agriculture sector of the region contributed an average of 34% GDP in the country's agriculture over the past 20 years, accounting for 30% of the whole region's overall GDP. However, the development in Mekong Delta is slowing down compared to other regions and has not reached its full potential due to climate change. He hoped this challenge would be the driving force and opportunity for the region to change crops as well as livestock model and apply science and technology for high-quality products. The minister also highlighted several achievements that Japanese agriculture has obtained thanks to both self-reliance and science & technology to promote local cultural values.
Minister Le Minh Hoan delivered the opening remarks.
Next, speaker Vu Kim Hanh introduced changes and factors affecting Mekong Delta agriculture. She noted that previous solutions and policies were "not natural-based, so it takes a lot of resources to deal with nature". "Natural farming" is key in agriculture to integrate resources and ecosystem components without harming nature. The speaker also emphasized the focus on investing in education, science and technology, especially for the local labor force in order to tackle the labour shortage of the region.
More specifically, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Tran Dang Xuan mentioned some problems that Vietnam's agriculture is confronting with. He strongly underlined the urgency of raising awareness and capacity for farmers, calling for investment from Japan and Vietnamese businesses to foster agriculture. Other solutions proposed by Xuan included promoting the potential of Vietnamese agriculture to Japanese enterprises, replacing land area for rice cultivation with aquatic products or higher value crops.
In addition, Dr. Pham Viet Dung suggested several measures to solve the difficulties that the Mekong Delta is facing, including the SAN-KAN-GAKU model that Japan is embracing - a close-knitted cooperation between businesses, government agencies and research institutions. The speaker also mentioned the need for a comprehensive investigation to understand the current administration in the Mekong Delta and make adjustments to properly practice this model in Vietnam. At the end of the discussion, Dr. Nguyen Huu Tri touched on the promotion of growing mushrooms in the Mekong Delta. He believed that by applying science and technology, profitable mushrooms could be produced in the Mekong Delta, bringing high export returns. However, the production of agricultural products (like mushrooms) needs to be further improved, especially in terms of infrastructure. In particular, it is extremely necessary to build innovation centers and agricultural trading centers for large production areas.
The webinar is of significant meaning amid the current situation. It creates a space for speakers and leading experts in the field to exchange views and propose solutions to improve economic efficiency, branding and quality of agricultural products for an innovative transformation of the Mekong Delta region.
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