2016 was a tumultuous year for Vietnam's agriculture in the face of a series of natural disasters, climate change... However, our country's agriculture still has many positive bright spots.
1. Formosa environmental disaster
On April 6, the phenomenon of mass fish deaths began to appear in the waters near Vung Ang industrial zone (Ky Anh, Ha Tinh) and then spread to the provinces: Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue. The cause of this incident was that the Formosa company discharged wastewater into the sea. It is estimated that inshore and offshore fishing production is damaged by about 1,600 tons/month.
2. Initial success of the project “Restructuring Agriculture”
After more than 3 years of implementing the project "Agricultural Restructuring", our country's agricultural sector has achieved a number of achievements. First, the livestock industry has innovated, accessing the world's modern production methods. Next is the seafood industry, the two main products are pangasius and brackish shrimp, which have met the world's production technology and conditions.
3. Natural disaster after disaster
In early 2016, a historic cold spell caused heavy damage to farmers in 14 northern provinces. For livestock production, more than 50,000 cattle and poultry died; For agriculture, over 9,000 rice areas were damaged,... In March 2016, a drought occurred in the Central Highlands, causing more than 25,000 hectares of rice to be seriously affected.
Next was the prolonged drought - salinity in the Mekong Delta, causing more than 160,000 hectares of arable land to become saline, causing damage of over 1 million tons of rice. Not stopping there, from October to December, 5 consecutive floods of rain occurred in the South Central Coast and the Central Highlands. According to statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), total damage caused by natural disasters is more than 39 trillion VND.
4. Reality TV "Clean Agriculture" airs
The Clean Agriculture Program has brought joy to consumers and farmers. Photo: Bizmedia
On November 1, the reality TV show Clean Agriculture was broadcast on national television for the first time. In this program, the host and camera crew will go to many agricultural areas throughout the country to introduce to the audience clean agricultural products. Thereby, viewers will have easy access to clean food and expand output for Vietnamese agricultural products. This is a program of practical significance for society and farmers.
5. Agribank's 50 trillion credit package for agriculture
In early November 2016, Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development - Agribank announced a credit package worth VND 50 trillion to serve clean agriculture. Borrowers are enterprises, farm owners, cooperatives and unions of cooperatives. Loan interest rates are quite favorable, from 0.5 - 1.5% a year.
6. Fruit and vegetable export turnover exceeds rice
As of December 15, the total export value of vegetables and fruits was 2.3 billion USD, while rice exports reached 2.1 billion USD. This result has brought the vegetable group to the 3rd position in the top of the main export agricultural products in Vietnam, behind coffee and cashew nut.
7. Imports of agricultural materials hit a record high
In 2016, Vietnam imported a huge amount of agricultural materials. Specifically, the volume of imported corn and fertilizer reached a record volume: 8 million tons of corn, 3.2 million tons of fertilizer. In addition, the amount of imported pesticides is nearly 500 million USD.
The number of fertilizers, pesticides, etc. increased to a record in 2016. Photo: Bizmedia
8. “Fashion” to start a business in agriculture
It can be said that 2016 is the year of "agricultural start-ups". The number of enterprises starting to invest in agriculture increased the highest ever, with 1030 enterprises, total FDI capital of 3.72 billion USD.
9. Conference "Building Vietnam's agricultural industry"
On December 18, the conference "Building Vietnam's agricultural industry" took place and attracted about 500 businesses and leaders from 22 provinces to attend. Here, a credit package worth about 50 * 60 billion VND for high-tech agriculture is announced.
10. Prohibited agricultural substances are dealt with fiercely
This is the bright spot of the whole agricultural industry in the past year. The agricultural sector has implemented solutions to eliminate 4 problems: banned substances, antibiotics in livestock/aquaculture, pesticides, and fake fertilizers by various methods. Typically, the Directorate of Fisheries dismissed a series of leaders and officers of the Center for Testing, Testing and Accreditation of Aquaculture for falsifying more than 800 certificates of circulation of animal feed and aquaculture products. environmental remediation products.
