The expansion of PPP model is essential to developing a green, innovative and value-added sector, while attracting investment capital from the private sector, as well as domestic and foreign enterprises, says Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Le Minh Hoan. — AFP
HANOI: Promoting public-private partnerships (PPPs) will help improve sustainability in the agricultural sector, according to experts speaking at an event in Hanoi.
The expansion of the PPP model was essential to developing a green, innovative and value-added sector, while attracting investment capital from the private sector, as well as domestic and foreign enterprises, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan.
The minister was speaking at a conference on the Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture in Vietnam (PSAV) with the theme “Adding Green and Value to Agriculture”, held by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry (Mard).
The Mard minister said that the new global economy required agricultural products to be produced responsibly, especially in biodiversity conservation and emissions reduction to mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate change.
In light of global challenges facing the agricultural sector, innovation in agriculture needed development, while innovative initiatives needed disseminating to improve productivity and sustainability in the food supply chain.
With the Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development to 2030 and a vision to 2050, Vietnam advocates accelerating agricultural restructuring, transforming from a “production mindset” to an “economic mindset”, towards the “green values” created from “green transformation, green consumption, green economy”.
Along with the goal of maintaining and improving productivity and output, agriculture needs to develop integrated “multi-value” to create added value based on effective exploitation of scientific and technological resources, innovation, digital transformation and organisation to connect agriculture with the processing industry, markets, exports and global value chains.
At COP26, Vietnam also announced a national commitment to be carbon-neutral by 2050. The agricultural sector plays an important role in laying the groundwork for this goal and ensuring a sustainable roadmap for national long-term food security.
Binu Jacob, general director of Nestle Vietnam Co Ltd, said that reducing the use of pesticides while still improving productivity had made great strides. However, this was still not enough.
As food security becomes increasingly important, ensuring a sustainable food supply was an important priority, he said.
However, agriculture was also a factor that still accounted for a large proportion of emissions, said the general director.
To deal with these impacts, it was necessary for the participation of all parties, especially the public and private sectors, he added.
Nestle Vietnam Co continued to co-operate with Mard and partners to bring sustainable Vietnamese agriculture to reality, he added.
In addition, Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, the director of the PSAV Secretariat, the director of the International Co-operation Department of Mard, signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with Grow Asia and Syngenta Vietnam.
This will help the parties strengthen cooperation in the form of PPPs. — Viet Nam News/ANN
