April 14, 2009
Vietnam may earmark US$2.22 billion for livestock, grain development
A project to reduce post-harvest losses in agricultural production, with investment estimated at VND39.5 trillion (US$2.22 billion), has been submitted to the government by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
Accordingly, the investment will be injected into projects and machinery and equipment towards mechanising 80 percent of land working, 50 percent of sowing, and 50 percent of harvesting in rice fields. Half of the workload in the livestock breeding sector will also be mechanised.
This project is aimed at improving agricultural output, as well as reducing the post-harvest loss of rice to 5 percent to 6 percent and seafood to below 10 percent by 2020.
Towards achieving those targets, MARD said several policies will need revision, including land laws, import taxes, and support for farmers' purchasing farm machinery.
A survey conducted by the ministry showed that the rate of post-harvest losses in agricultural production remain high in Vietnam, with about 11 percent to 13 percent in terms of rice production and 19 percent in terms of corn production.
As well as the aforesaid losses, in the recent past, the quality of agriculture and aquaculture products has also suffered from poor protection equipment and technology.
Experts say the small-sized production scale has prevented the development of technical infrastructure and the use of post-harvest machines. Each Vietnamese farm household owns only 0.7 hectares of farmland on average.
So far, agricultural mechanisation has been mainly focused on land preparation and rice husking and polishing, while sowing, tending and harvesting are still carried out manually.
Storage is another area of concern, as storage facilities for food, seafood, and vegetables are poor in both quantity and quality, failing to meet technical standards.
Agriculture and aquaculture play a vital role in the national economy, with the sector's export value reaching US$3.5 billion in the first quarter of this year, representing nearly 26 percent of the country's total export revenues.
