Seek for agricultural development solution in Southeast Asia

The Roundtable on Inclusive Agribusiness in Southeast Asia was built through the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Grow Asia initiative through strengthening the connection between the existing networks, sharing knowledge, encouraging new cooperation and research, finding creative and practical solutions to deal with the challenges faced by the Agribusiness enterprises in Southeast Asia (including farmer households and small-scale enterprises).

In the opening speech, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat stressed that agriculture is considered the engine of growth for the economy of ASEAN Member States. Nearly 30% of ASEAN’s total land area is devoted to agriculture with about 50% of ASEAN’s population depending on agricultural production. The value of agriculture sector is playing a leading role to enhance economic growth, drive competitiveness, while 70% of the Viet Nam’s population is living in countryside and agriculture contributes 20% of GDP. At present, the agriculture sector of Viet Nam is restructured towards improving added value, creating more jobs, increasing incomes, protecting environment, and shortening the gap between rural and urban areas.

The Minister said that over the last 5 years Viet Nam has brought together more than 40 organizations from the government, the private sector, civil society and other organizations to work closely together to develop value chain partnerships on priority commodities including coffee, tea, corn, vegetables, spices, fisheries as well as financial support in agricultural development. Viet Nam has been cooperating with the leading multinational corporations and local companies to promote linkages between domestic and foreign enterprises, between enterprises and farmers. In which special attention has been paid on ensuring farmers’ benefits, at the same time to ensure economic and environmental sustainability. The challenge now is to scale up, replicate, and ensure sustainability of these efforts, which requires innovative approaches in business operation, investment strategies and new partnerships.

Mr. Hugh Borrowman, Australian Ambassador to Viet Nam said that not only Viet Nam but also other regional countries must sit down to discuss and find a better sustainable solution, which is to connect business with production, particularly farmers, seed producers, supply chain managers, government, in order to ensure that goods would be imported through border gates easily via administrative procedures and infrastructure. The Australian Government has been working closely with the Government of Vietnam and other ASEAN partners to connect business innovators with farmers, researchers and development practitioners, to support the shared goal of reducing poverty and ensuring a prosperous and food-secure future.

To ensure successful partnerships, Vietnam has officially established the Secretariat of Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture in Viet Nam (PSAV) to coordinate and expand the activities of the task force. Minister Cao Duc Phat was also very supportive of the establishment of the Grow Asia partnership as this will not only strengthen the Vietnam taskforce by bringing on board more partners, sharing best practice, knowledge and innovation but also develop cross-border and regional efforts in support of agricultural development in the ASEAN region.