Businesses hope Resolution 57 will soon come into effect

Currently, Vinaseed owns many high-quality rice varieties. Photo: Tung Dinh.

As a science and technology enterprise recognized by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Vietnam Seed Group Joint Stock Company (Vinaseed) places its hopes on Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW dated December 22, 2024 of the Politburo with the goal of promoting cooperation between enterprises and research units. In addition, the enterprise also hopes that Resolution 57 will soon be implemented in practice.

Science and technology are the direct driving force

Professor Tran Dinh Long, member of the Board of Directors and senior advisor of Vinaseed, shared that the Company's current position lies in the market share of plant varieties with a number of subjects such as rice, corn, food plants, and flowers. Since its equitization in 2004, the Company has made very steady progress, making a profit in 2005 and in the past 10 years becoming a leading enterprise in the plant variety industry in Vietnam.

The achievements that Vinaseed has achieved come from many factors, but the main factor is that the Company considers science and technology as a direct driving force for development. According to Professor Tran Dinh Long, for agricultural enterprises, there are 3 main stages: input with seeds, then the cultivation process and finally post-harvest technology.

Nowadays, varieties play a very important role and at Vinaseed, varieties are also the core issue. When owning a good variety, the enterprise can ensure product quality and increasingly expand market share.

With a system of facilities spread across the country, Vinaseed has research centers to operate independently, select and create new varieties and organize the production of good varieties on a large scale.

To meet the development needs, Vinaseed currently focuses on chain production, not only making seeds but also producing and processing final products to serve business and export, thereby building a brand for the Company and the country.

This shows that the core issue here is that the Company has applied science and technology, in addition to purchasing copyrights, it has also researched and cooperated with research institutes to produce new, more innovative and advantageous varieties.

Professor Tran Dinh Long, member of the Board of Directors, senior advisor of Vinaseed. Photo: PAN group.

"There are some varieties that Vinaseed makes from start to finish, but there are also varieties that in the line isolation stage must cooperate with research institutes," informed Professor Tran Dinh Long.

Accordingly, using science as a direct driving force for development helps Vinaseed attract scientists to participate in advisory roles, then cooperate with leading experts in plant varieties to operate more and more effectively.

After Resolution 57 of the Politburo, joint venture and association mechanisms with institutes and international organizations will be more open and favorable. If in the past, cooperation encountered many obstacles, especially issues related to financial mechanisms, land, assets, and laboratories for seed production, Resolution 57 can solve them.

However, Mr. Tran Dinh Long said that these are only initial changes. For Resolution 57 to truly come into practice, it is necessary to take more concrete steps through a new system of legal documents and regulations. At that time, Vinaseed will be able to fully promote its capacity in science and technology in plant variety research between enterprises and research institutions.

In this context, Vinaseed will apply new mechanisms and policies from Resolution 57, consolidate a strong plant variety center of the Company to be ready to coordinate with state research institutes to remove current limitations in plant varieties.

Research and development activities contribute to the sustainable development of PAN Group and its member companies such as Vinaseed. Photo: PAN Group.

Limitations on basic research

Referring to the limitations in current breeding research, Professor Tran Dinh Long affirmed that the first thing to mention is the limitation in basic research. In the breeding industry, basic research is rarely invested in, but mainly involves importing and using traditional breeding methods. In addition, there is a small part of applying gene pooling technology and molecular genetics to breed production.

Meanwhile, the most advanced technology such as gene editing or using AI to evaluate traits has not appeared much. The reason for this is said to be that basic research does not bring immediate economic efficiency, so businesses do not invest but mainly carry out at state research institutes.

The second limitation of the Vietnamese seed industry is that the seed industry and seed technology are still backward. There are very few businesses investing in technological lines and factories to produce seeds on an industrial scale, including Vinaseed with 3 factories in Ba Vi (Hanoi), Ha Nam and Dong Thap. This requires the development strategy of the Vietnamese seed industry from now until 2030, with a vision to 2050, to promote the seed industry.

Another limitation in the direction of breed research is related to the special characteristics of the breed. For example, Vietnamese enterprises currently have to import a lot of high-quality vegetable and fruit varieties, worth hundreds of millions of USD each year. If we invest in research, we can master the technology of this breed instead of just importing and processing as at present.

In addition, it is also necessary to invest in research to develop new rice varieties that can adapt to climate change to suit future weather changes. Along with that are rice varieties with nutritional or medicinal properties instead of just focusing on commercial products as at present.

"To improve the soil, we can study and incorporate the root nodule trait of some wild rice species into production varieties to help store natural nitrogen after each cultivation cycle," said a senior consultant of Vinaseed.

Motivation from Resolution 57

According to Professor Tran Dinh Long, Resolution 57 clearly states changes in institutions, specifically regimes, policies, finance, land... This brings great encouragement to both the state research system and businesses.

Science, technology and innovation are expected to develop more strongly when Resolution 57 comes into practice. Photo: PAN Group.

For an agricultural enterprise, investment requires large costs but the risks in research and production are also high. Therefore, if there is an open and encouraging mechanism like Resolution 57, it will help remove bottlenecks and help enterprises operate more strongly.

In the research institute system, thousands of scientists are also lacking motivation to develop for many reasons, typically low income and difficulties in connecting with businesses.

“If Resolution 57 is concretized and put into practice, businesses and research institutions will have a basis to promote cooperation, and both sides will have motivation. At that time, the value from basic research of institutes will be combined with the chain production capacity of businesses to produce high-value products on a large scale,” he said.

In addition, when facilitated, the business ordering mechanism will promote research work closer to reality, creating products suitable to market requirements, improving economic efficiency.

"Increasing the ratio of spending on scientific research from 0.82% of the budget to 3% by 2030, with the target of spending on research and development (R&D) reaching 2% of GDP will create more opportunities for research cooperation.

But the important thing is to invest properly and research necessary and practical items to bring clear results to the cooperation process," Professor Tran Dinh Long emphasized.

Source: https://nongnghiep.vn/doanh-nghiep-mong-nghi-quyet-57-som-di-vao-cuoc-song-d744862.html