Agriculture Ministry identifies strategies and orientations in cooperation with Sustainable Trade Initiatives (IDH) to streamline agricultural production and trade policies in the Central Highlands region
On February 13, the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) met with the Global Director of Sustainable Trade Initiatives (IDH) to Identify strategies and orientations for partnership to support sustainable agricultural production in the Central Highlands regions aligning with market demands while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
MARD Minister Le Minh Hoan explained, “Vietnam understands the need to develop agriculture based on the new consumer trends, which is further elaborated in the Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050”.
“Agriculture has become less about production and more about value chain and economics. Vietnam has recognized economic development associated with global initiatives on agriculture. We approach agricultural production from the perspective of sustainable development, ecology, and environment, while creating agricultural commodities” affirmed Minister Hoan.
Minister further explains that, Vietnam has long practiced small and fragmented production. Therefore, sustainable development still faces bottlenecks. To solve the fragmented and small characteristics in the commodity chain, Vietnam has community agricultural extension programs, cooperatives, and industry associations. The subject of the commodity chain from farmers to businesses needs cohesion and knowledge of farmers for it to be sustainable. Our goal is to help this approach catch on with farmers, thereby serving as a foundation for bringing in new values.
MARD and IDH aim to recognize the problems in agricultural production in the Central Highlands, to design effective cooperation initiatives on communication, agricultural extension, and advanced training among farmers. IDH will be supporting factors for Vietnam in the Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.
Global Director of Sustainable Trade Initiatives (IDH), Daan Wensing said, “In cooperation with the MARD, IDH will focus on commodities such as coffee, pepper and landscape access in sustainable agricultural development. Further, we need to understand the needs and trends of the world market such as reducing carbon emissions as well as EU market regulations on imported goods’.