96.5% of money from carbon credit transfer will be allocated to localities

Export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products estimated at 13.53 billion USD, up 21.8%

At the press conference, Mr. Phung Duc Tien - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - said that in the first 3 months of 2024, agriculture still achieved good growth; productivity and output of many key products increased, ensuring adequate supply of food, foodstuffs, and essential goods, contributing to the overall growth of the country's economy.

Bộ Nông nghiệp họp báo thường kỳ quý I/2024

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien informed at the press conference

Specifically, in terms of the growth rate of agricultural, forestry and fishery production value, the first quarter of 2024 is estimated to reach 2.9 - 3% over the same period in 2023, of which crop cultivation increased by 2.02%; livestock increased by 4.34%, aquaculture increased by 3.46%; forestry increased by 4.11%.

Regarding agricultural, forestry and fishery exports, in the first three months of the year, the total export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products is estimated at 13.53 billion USD, up 21.8% over the same period last year; trade surplus was 3.36 billion USD, up 96.5%.

Contributing to this result were agricultural products of 7.46 billion USD, up 31.1%; forestry products of 3.61 billion USD, up 18.8%; aquatic products of 1.86 billion USD, up 1.9%; livestock of 113 million USD, up 4.8%; production inputs of 481 million USD, up 8.3%.

Export value to all markets increased. Of which, exports to the Asian market reached 6.27 billion USD (up 16.6%); America 2.96 billion USD (up 27.2%); Europe 1.85 billion USD (up 34.8%); Oceania 188 million USD (up 22.9%) and Africa 192 million USD (up 21.6%). China, the United States and Japan continued to be the three largest export markets; export value to China accounted for 20.2%, up 18.3%; the United States accounted for 19.9%, up 28.3% and Japan accounted for 7%, up 4.6%.

96.5% of funds from carbon credit transfers will be distributed to localities

At the press conference, reporters were interested in asking questions about durian issues being warned about in the Chinese market; sharing benefits from carbon credit market transfers;...

Mr. Tran Quang Bao - Director of the Department of Forestry (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) - informed that the Emission Reduction Results Transfer Agreement (ERPA) for the North Central region was signed on October 22, 2020 between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the World Bank (WB) as the trustee of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) to transfer 10.3 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the North Central region in the period of 2018-2024, with a unit price of 5 USD/ton of CO2 equivalent to 51.5 million USD; about 95% of the transfer results will be transferred back to Vietnam to contribute to the national commitment on greenhouse gas emission reduction (NDC).

Up to now, Vietnam has completed the transfer of 10.3 million tons of CO2 to the World Bank and received 51.5 million USD. Currently, 80% of the funding has been allocated to 6 provinces in the North Central region. In the next 1-2 months, after the final results are available, the remaining funding will be allocated to the localities.

Regarding the distribution of benefits, the Government has issued Decree 107/2022/ND-CP on the pilot transfer of emission reduction results and financial management of greenhouse gas emission reduction payment agreements in the North Central region, which clearly stipulates that the Central Fund - the place that receives, manages and coordinates this source of funding - can only retain 0.5% for general coordination of activities; 3% for measuring, counting, monitoring, reporting, training, and technical guidance; the remaining 96.5% will be allocated to localities, based on forest area and on the basis of households receiving forest contracts, which will continue to be allocated to the community, local people receiving contracts, and forest protection. This agreement only applies to natural forests.

Currently, based on the budget, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has issued a plan for benefit allocation, organized training to implement the allocation to localities with forests to benefit from this funding source, the main target of this is the disadvantaged community, specifically here are ethnic minority areas and people with forests.

According to Mr. Tran Quang Bao, the signing of this agreement will be carried out in 3 phases: 2018 - 2019; 2020 - 2022; 2023 - 2024. However, according to the Emission Reduction Results Report, Phase 1 (2018 - 2019) confirmed by the WB, the emission reduction results in the North Central region reached 16.21 million tons of CO2. Therefore, in addition to completing 10.3 million tons ahead of schedule, there is currently a surplus of 5.91 million tons. The WB has agreed to purchase an additional 1 million tons of CO2 under the old regulations.

Regarding the confirmation of carbon credits in phase 2 (2020 - 2022); phase 3 (2023 - 2024), the WB will continue to support Vietnam in measuring to determine emissions, and at the same time support the search for partners who are interested in receiving them to conduct transfer negotiations, ensuring national interests and mobilizing additional resources for forest protection and development in the North Central region and bringing benefits to forest growers.

"In addition to the 1 million tons of CO2 credits that the WB agreed to buy according to the old regulations, the remaining 4.91 million tons of credits have been reported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision," Mr. Tran Quang Bao informed.

Adjusting durian cultivation practices to reduce cadmium uptake

Regarding the warning about durian exported to the Chinese market, Mr. Nguyen Quang Hieu - Head of International Cooperation and Communications Department - Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) - informed that the number of durians found to be contaminated with cadmium may have originated from the cultivation stage because cadmium is a substance commonly found in chemical fertilizers and exists in the composition of fertilizers containing phosphorus, Cu and Zn or is available in the composition of minerals or is added as a source of micronutrients for plants and animals.

In addition, during the pre-processing and post-harvest cleaning process, businesses may use cadmium-contaminated washing water or use chemicals containing cadmium. The Department is currently requesting localities to identify the specific cause, whether this substance is in fertilizers or what type of pesticides, in order to immediately reduce its use.

"The 30 durian shipments discovered were not discovered by China at the same time and immediately announced, but this is a summary of data announced by China since Vietnam exported the first durian shipment to this market (September 17, 2022)," Mr. Nguyen Quang Hieu shared and said that although this announcement has not affected exports, these are warnings for Vietnam to proactively find the cause and make adjustments to avoid repeating in the future.

To ensure reputation, the Department has requested businesses with violating shipments to recall and handle the violating shipments, and at the same time review all records, production, collection, and export processes, remedy and apply preventive measures to avoid recurrence of violations.

Before determining the cause of each case to make recommendations, in general, the Plant Protection Department recommends that production units need to adjust input materials, use chemicals with low cadmium content; adjust some farming methods to reduce cadmium absorption;… And the important issue, according to Mr. Hieu, is that before exporting, it is necessary to check the quality, including the cadmium content, thereby minimizing risks before exporting.

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