(Dan Tri) - At a press conference yesterday (December 29), Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that the control and handling of unsanitary and food safety in the industry Agriculture has done very well in the past year. He said: "Tested on 9140 samples at slaughterhouses across the country, no longer detected banned substance salbutamol".

According to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 2017 was recorded as a year of many weather fluctuations with 16 storms, 4 low pressure storms, along with heavy rain, pipe floods, flash floods... spread across all regions of the country.

"If in 2016 the total damage caused by natural disasters was VND 39,000 billion, in 2017, although the total damage has not been fully reported, it has reached nearly VND 60,000 billion, showing the severity and difficulty caused by challenges. of natural disasters, and at the same time, the market barriers are getting stricter," said the ministry's leader.

On the morning of December 29, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a press conference to provide the press with the activities of the agricultural sector in 2017.

Notably, in 2017, there were nearly 2,000 newly established businesses in the field of agriculture, forestry and fishery, an increase of 3.8% compared to 2016, bringing the number of enterprises operating in the industry to more than 5,600.

Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong commented: "Many large enterprises and corporations have chosen high-tech agriculture and organic agriculture as the main direction and have invested billions of dollars, achieving remarkable successes."

With such great attention, in 2017 the whole agriculture and rural development industry overcame difficulties to go up with very respectable achievements: The industry growth rate reached 2.94%, exceeding the target set by the Government of 2 ,84%.

"In the export target of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, set by the Government is 32-33 billion USD, so far we have reached 36.37 billion USD, exceeding more than 4 billion USD compared to the same period last year. and the industry's absolute surplus reached $8.55 billion, an increase of more than $1 billion over the same period in 2016," said Minister Cuong.

Along with that, the head of the agriculture sector also added: The new rural target building program has reached 2,884 communes, reaching 32.3% - exceeding the assigned plan by 31%; the forest coverage rate reached 41.45%, the number of violations against regulations on forest management and protection decreased by 23% and the damage caused by deforestation and forest fire decreased by 68% over the same period last year.

In 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development continued to choose as the Peak Year for action on quality management and food safety. The 2017 monitoring results report compiled by the Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Management Department shows that food safety issues are being controlled quite closely, especially outstanding issues such as the rampant use of chemicals. , antibiotics and banned substances in livestock. During the year, the analysis results of 9,142 urine and meat samples collected at slaughterhouses across the country did not detect the banned substance salbutamol.

Permanent Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan informed about the achievements of the agricultural sector in 2017.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the percentage of fresh meat samples that violated the antibiotic norms was 0.63% (21/3341 samples), a decrease of nearly 3 times compared to 2016. The rate of samples of aquatic products and aquatic products in violation was only chemical digestion, antibiotics is 0.89%. The percentage of samples of vegetables, tubers and fruits violating the norms on plant protection residues also decreased to only 0.6% instead of 2.05% (in 2016)

"Up to now, nationwide, 744 models of safe agricultural, forestry and fishery supply chain points have been successfully built nationwide. In 2018, the Ministry continued to focus on directing the implementation of decisive measures. ensure food safety for the group of fresh foods, small-scale producers, traders, and slaughterers, focusing on the use of pesticides, fertilizers, veterinary drugs, chemicals, and antibiotics in agricultural production, forestry and fisheries", the ministry said.

Achieving and exceeding the targets set by the Government in a challenging year in terms of natural disasters and the market has initially confirmed that the Agriculture and Rural Development sector is on the right track in the process of restructuring the industry associated with new rural construction. The year 2017 also marks a major turning point in our pivot to develop key agricultural products, identifying industries with advantages.

"In the past, we valued rice production as the top priority, but now we have shifted to prioritizing the development of high-value products such as seafood, vegetables, and furniture... With that direction, in the year. In 2017, the industry set many new record milestones: the export of seafood reached 8.4 billion USD for the first time, the export of wood and forest products reached 8 billion USD. reached 3.45 billion USD, up 40.5%, far exceeding the rice export turnover of about 2.6 billion USD," said the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.