Photo for illustration (Source: congthuong.vn)

Speaking at the meeting, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Dinh Minh Hiep said that 2020 was the hard year for the city’s agriculture sector due to tremendous impacts of COVID-19 and African swine fever.

In 2020, the agriculture sector’s Gross Regional Domestic Product reached VND10,167 billion, an increase of 2.06 percent compared to the same period with production value being VND23,481 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.07 percent (average production value of VND600 million per hectare per year and labor productivity estimating at VND169 million per person per year).

In 2021, the agriculture sector strives to increase its Gross Regional Domestic Product by 2 – 2.5 percent with average production value of VND630 - VND650 million per hectare with 76 percent vegetable farms achieving VietGAP standard and 72 percent of agricultural cooperatives will be efficiently operated.

To attain the goals, the sector will intensify re-structuring with the aim to develop hi-tech agriculture and urban agriculture.

In addition, the sector will have new criteria for the government’s new rural plan to suit with urbanization in the city’s countryside. Simultaneously, the sector will focus on applying biological technologies to produce seedling and animal babies with high quality.

At the meeting, Mr. Hoan asked the Department to focus on policies, mechanisms, and orientations to stimulate farmers to pour their money in agricultural production as well as build infrastructure for farming such as irrigation works and technology so that the sector can attract more investment.

Presently, prices of land are high; therefore, farmers tend to sell their land. The Department must maintain a vast land for agricultural production./.

BTA