Vietnam’s agricultural growth targets in 2019

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has just issued the agricultural growth targets in 2019 and an action plan to achieve the proposed targets. Accordingly, this year Vietnam will strive to achieve agricultural, forestry and fishery export turnover of up to USD 43 billion (up USD 3 billion compared to 2018), of which targets on exports of crop production, livestock, seafood, and forestry products are USD 21 billion, USD 0.8 billion; USD 10.5 billion; and USD 10.5 billion, respectively. The rest are other products.

Crop production aims at yielding VND 100 million in profit/ha

The scenario set by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for 2019 is to reach an export turnover of USD 21 billion USD for crop production. Value of harvested products/ha is expected to reach VND 100 million.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue to review crop production restructuring in accordance with Vietnam’s advantages and the market needs. The Ministry will continue the transformation of low-effective rice land to other market crops that are more efficient and marketable or aquaculture products suitable for local ecology; developing high-tech production of vegetables, flowers and medicinal plants.

In 2019, food production is expected to slightly cut down to 48.5 million tons. In particular, rice production is expected to down by 200 thousand tons compared to 2018, estimated at 43.77 million tons in 2019; corn production is expected to reach 4.76 million tons, down by 2.8%; cassava is expected at about 9.76 million tons, down by 1.8% compared to last year.

Along with crop production restructuring, Vietnam will continue to develop concentrated large-scale agricultural production areas organized by value chain. At the same time, the development of clean and organic agriculture will be promoted. The application of science and technology, mechanization, adoption of advanced technical processes, sustainable intensive farming measures will be strengthened. The use of inorganic fertilizers and plant protection chemicals will be reduced. It is expected to strengthen the use of good and high quality varieties suitable for ecological areas in combination with good intensive farming, science and technology applications, mechanization application to reduce production costs, improve productivity and quality, quickly increase the value and competitiveness of each product.

Livestock aims to become a billion-dollar export sector by 2020

Livestock sector will strive to achieve a growth rate of 4.15% in 2019; total meat production is expected to reach 5.59 million tons, an increase of 4.1% compared to 2018. Of which, output of pork live weight is expected at about 3.96 million tons, up 4%; poultry meat production of about 1.16 million tons, up 5.7%; milk of about 1.05 million tons, up 9.3%; eggs of about 12.57 billion, up 6.6%.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will review the sector development strategy for each specific farming species to adjust the scale in line with market demand; develop concentrated and large-scale husbandry areas for key products. Vietnam will strive to bring export turnover of livestock products from USD 550 million in 2018 to USD 800 million in 2019, and in 2020 the livestock industry will officially enter the billion-dollar product group.

Fishery and forest products is expected to bring about USD 21 billion in value

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development requires the fisheries sector to strive to achieve a growth rate of more than 4.69% in 2019, total fishery production of about 8.08 million tons (up 4.2%) compared with 2018, seafood export turnover is expected to reach over USD 10.5 billion. Fishing operations must strictly comply with domestic and international regulations on fishing and traceability of aquatic products. The "gold card" issue of the EC is expected to be addressed soon.

Regarding aquaculture production, attention must be paid to promote the strong development of key aquatic species including shrimp, pangasius and marine farming. It is requested to maintain a stable area of ​​620,000 hectares of tiger shrimp farming, and 105,000 hectares of ​​white-leg shrimp farming, creating a driving force for achieving the target of the shrimp industry development plan of USD 4.5 billion by 2020.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development assigns targets for the forestry sector in 2019 to strive to achieve a production value increase of over 6.0%; timber exploitation from planted forests is expected to reach 17 million m3 (up 8.0% compared to 2018); export turnover is expected to reach over USD 10.5 billion.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development assigns the International Cooperation Department, the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority (Agrotrade) and the Trade Promotion Centre for Agriculture (Agritrade) to actively negotiate to open export markets and maintain traditional markets, seeking and expanding potential markets, restricting at the lowest level Vietnam’s dependence on certain markets.

Functional agencies must improve the quality of information collection and analysis, market forecast, especially key markets (USA, Europe, Japan, China ...), promptly provide warnings about regulation barriers, problems that may arise for exports; organize trade promotion activities to promote Vietnam’s agricultural, forestry and fishery products in foreign markets.

These agencies are requested to maintain promotion of quality agricultural products meeting food safety requirements through major agricultural trade fairs, strengthen trade promotion activities, connect local supply and demand by value chain, promote connection between domestic and foreign agricultural enterprises through different forms of cooperation in production and consumption of agricultural products. Vietnam’s agriculture products should participate in major international agriculture fairs in key markets (China, Hoa Ky, EU, Japan), as well as other potential markets (ASEAN, Russian Federation, Middle East) to promote and introduce Vietnam’s agriculture products with potential for further development.