AGRICULTURE

Agriculture plays an underlying and leading role in the process of reform, promotes trade surplus, ensures national food security, and contributes to poverty reduction and environmental rebalance. Agro entrepreneurs contribute tremendously to investment capital supply, scientific and technological knowledge updates in agricultural sector, and taking Vietnam’s agricultural products and processed foods to participate in global value chains

For the time being, due to rapid growth in population, complexity of climate change, popular trend in the world’s agricultural prices towards staying high and getting higher, and competition for market expansion in the context of international economic integration, Vietnam’s agro entrepreneurs are required to gain the initiative, control domestic market and get out to the international market with science and technology knowledge and management skills as their powerful luggage. To do this, businesses need to be organized and linked in a way to address the systemic and common weaknesses (such as dispersal, division, disunity, lack of coordination among businesses and the public and private sectors, etc.); and those related to business and production (such as technological backwardness, small scale of production materials and resources, inability to capture a full range of market information, culture of arbitrary business, loss of business trust, solicitation, avoidance of laws etc.).

For the past time, agricultural production dropped, food safety became poor, agricultural products are less qualified, goods and income of Vietnamese businesses and farmers declined.  This is attributed to the fact that Vietnam’s agriculture is basically a small-scale and peace-meal production sector which is fragmented, adapts itself spontaneously to the market rules, operates without standards, and is divided by commercial intermediaries. What is more, public investment remains limited, trade protection is low, policy reforms lag behind reality, infrastructure is inadequate, and there are multiple risks from natural disasters, epidemics, and climate change. Meanwhile, information sources are discrete with low reliability and practicability, information transformability is low; and other problems remain with the implementation of master plans, strategies, macroeconomic policies, management and market development support from regulatory authorities. To address these shortcomings we would expect to have a management mechanism which is shaped and implemented in a way to ensure that legitimate rights of the lawfully operating businesses are protected by the State and the entire socio-political system, that businesses that commit violations must be automatically held liable for their wrongdoings with a hell from an adequate penalty system. Society and the entire socio-political system must act towards the same direction.

Agro enterprises taking part in the Forum are committed to 1) setting up a mechanism for cooperation and exchange of information in order to reap, in a timely manner, the opportunities brought about by various programs and development projects in the sector and location; 2) actively providing inputs to design and implement development plans, strategies, policies and projects, and assess such implementaiton for prompt adjustment; 3) having a policy dialogue with and reporting difficulties to relevant authorities to promptly deal with obstacles of enterprises during the investment, production and business process; 4) proposing solutions, calling for support, providing support and synergies for the developmet purpose via the media, development organizations, thinktanks and training insitutions; 5) gradually establishing supporting services, association, joint venture and co-investment among businesses in the Private Sector Forum; 6) coordinating with foreign firms, joining actions and initiatives of the World Economic Forum, the Asian Economic Forum on agriculture.

We recommend setting up a permanent Private Sector Forum that will represent the voice of all private businesses for development purpose.

We recommend that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have in place a mechanism for regular consultation and dialogue with Vietnam’s businesses and the Vietnam Private Sector Forum whereby public authorities will accompany and effectively interact with businesses and employees in the agriculture and agricultural product processing sectors.

Businesses, government and sosciety share many issues of interest such as (1) agricultural production on a large-scale or industrial scale, (2) rights of investors engaged in agricultural product processing, agricultural and rural service supply and access to land, (3) funding and taxes for agricultural product business, (5) turning farmers into enterpreuneurs, agricultural activities into businesses, (6) food safety and hygiene, (7) biosafety, (8) encouragement of investment taking the form of public-private-partnership (PPP) /socialization… Also actual issues will also be raised by both regulatory agencies and businesses in order to join hands in making policies and adopting effective solutions to meet the regulatory needs, to enable businesses and to serve the society.