Spectacular Firsts
Talking about the achievements of the whole year 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is proud that the whole sector continues to affirm its important position as a pillar of the economy, firmly ensuring food security, major balances of the economy and contributing to macroeconomic stability.
Rice exports reach 8.3 million tons for the first time
"This is a great effort and determination of the whole industry in the context of the economy facing many unprecedented difficulties and challenges like the recent past, and especially setting a series of new records," said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan. In fact, 2023 can be called the year of record agricultural exports. First of all, rice, last year Vietnam exported a record high output of nearly 8.3 million tons and at many times during the year, Vietnamese rice prices broke records, the highest in the world.
Fruit and vegetable exports also reached a turnover of nearly 5.7 billion USD for the first time. It is worth noting that most fruit trees have high selling prices, helping farmers get rich.
An important milestone achieved in 2023 was the agricultural trade surplus reaching a record level of 12.7 billion USD, an increase of 43.7%. There were 6 groups of commodities with export turnover of over 3 billion USD including rice, vegetables, coffee, cashew nuts, shrimp, wood and wood products.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasized: "Another important thing is that the agricultural enterprise force is growing stronger and is becoming the core in the agricultural value chain. In 2023, 1,400 new enterprises were established nationwide, bringing the total number of enterprises in the industry to over 16,100, an increase of 7.3% compared to 2022. In addition to the investment and development of small and medium enterprises, a number of large corporations and enterprises continue to increase investment in agriculture, especially high-tech agriculture, such as: Nafoods, TH, Dabaco, Masan, Lavifood, Dong Giao Food Export Company, Bien Dong Trade and Investment. In the context of economic difficulties, this growth figure is a very remarkable achievement. The GDP growth of the whole industry reached the highest level in the past 5 years, maintaining growth momentum in all fields. Agriculture continues to affirm its important position, being the pillar of the economy. economy, firmly ensuring food security, major economic balances and contributing to macroeconomic stability".
Another "first" is that the rate of forest area with controlled seed quality reached nearly 90%, for the first time 10.3 million forest carbon credits were sold, with a unit price of 5 USD/ton, the forestry industry earned 51.5 million USD (about 1,250 billion VND)...
Continue to be a pillar
Looking back at the history of exports, it must be admitted that there were times when agriculture was regressing, even losing ground compared to many other industries. However, since the Covid-19 pandemic and the increasingly severe climate change, the role and position of agriculture and agricultural products have been affirmed.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, General Director of the General Statistics Office, commented: "In the context of the world economy still having many uncertainties, with more difficulties than advantages, Vietnam's economy in 2023 still maintains a positive growth momentum, with each quarter higher than the previous quarter. In the whole year of 2023, GDP increased by 5.05% compared to the previous year. In particular, it must be affirmed that the agricultural, forestry and fishery production sector in 2023 continues to be a solid pillar of the economy. The export turnover of some agricultural products increased, livestock development was stable, and aquaculture development was quite good due to the application of high-tech models, which brought economic efficiency. Along with that, industrial production in the months of 2023 developed in a positive trend, especially in the last months of the year. Trade and service activities were vibrant and maintained a high growth rate compared to the previous year. Production and business activities in the fourth quarter of 2023 were more prosperous than in previous quarters, contributing to bringing investment capital The whole society's implementation in 2023 increased by 6.2%".
However, according to Ms. Huong, the agricultural sector still has limitations and problems such as: many types of agricultural materials depend on imports, increasing production costs; the area of cashew, rubber, and pepper trees continues to decrease due to low economic efficiency; animal feed prices remain high; and the output of exploited wood is low because processing enterprises have difficulty in selling their products.
"In 2024, it is forecasted that potential risks from the global economic environment will still exist and continue to negatively impact Vietnam's economic growth recovery prospects. However, in my opinion, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector will continue to grow positively; agricultural, forestry and fishery production is forecast to continue to be stable, and increased food product prices will play a positive supporting role for economic growth," Ms. Huong predicted.
Sharing the joy of the achievements of the agricultural sector, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan confided: "In 2024, regardless of the sector or field, we need to do well two tasks: First, change working methods associated with technology transformation. For example, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, internet of things, big data will be used by humans to obtain maps of natural disaster risks, irrigation planning, planting areas... Second, 2024 is the year of connecting emission reduction with green growth in all tasks of the sector from cultivation, livestock, veterinary... With careful preparation, I believe that in 2024, the agricultural sector will achieve even more outstanding results".
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the agricultural sector's targets in 2024 include: GDP growth rate of the whole sector of 3.0 - 3.5%; Total export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products of about 54 - 55 billion USD; an increase of 1 - 2 billion USD compared to 2023. Although it is forecasted that there will still be many difficulties, with the advantages of many agricultural products, many experts believe that agriculture this year is completely capable of achieving the set plan and we can expect new records for this industry.
Agricultural products will be disadvantaged
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, it is forecasted that by 2024, the area of food crops will gradually decrease due to competition from rice and fruit trees. Of which, corn is expected to produce 4.42 million tons, down 0.1%; cassava will produce 10.43 million tons, down 1.8%; peanuts will produce 401,600 tons, down 1.6%; and soybeans will produce 48,300 tons, down 7.3%.
Perennial industrial crops such as coffee, tea, pepper, rubber, cashew, etc. also saw significant reductions in area and yield due to the dominance of fruit trees.
Fruit and vegetable exports in 2023 are expected to be profitable, so the area for growing vegetables and fruit trees will grow strongly. Of which, the vegetable growing area will reach 1 million hectares, an increase of 11,300 hectares; vegetable output will reach 19.07 million tons, an increase of 3.7%. The area for growing fruit trees in 2023 will also reach 1,250,000 hectares, an increase of 28,600 hectares. In particular, durian output will reach 1.2 million tons, an increase of 39%; rambutan will reach 325,000 tons, an increase of 3.4%; pineapple will reach 724,000 tons, an increase of 2.9%; mango will reach 1 million tons, an increase of 2.1%; longan will reach 635,000 tons, an increase of 1.6%; lychee will reach 370,000 tons, an increase of 1.2%. However, the output of two types of fruit trees, grapefruit and dragon fruit, will decrease due to low selling prices.
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