More investment needed in agriculture

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat has called for more investment in agriculture and the promotion of rice production to ensure food security.

At a press conference in Hanoi on Nov. 9 following a ministerial round-table meeting on rice issues and food security within the framework of the third International Rice Congress, Minister Phat said the common challenges to countries are food security in the context of climate change, increasing population and shrinking areas of productive land.

Vietnam has more than 9 million hectares of agricultural land, including 4.1 million ha for rice cultivation, said the minister.

Phat said Vietnam has created a series of solutions to ensure food security by deeply reforming market mechanisms, handing land use rights to farmers and investing in irrigation systems.

In addition, Vietnam has paid attention to breeding research programmes, to create high-yield varieties, and is developing agricultural services, supplying processing equipment, exporting farm products and renovating cooperatives, he added.

At the meeting, Asian agriculture ministers focused their discussions on challenges to the development of the rice sector, putting forward measures to handle these challenges in their own countries and promote international cooperation on a global scale.

Asia is the fastest developing and largest rice production region but has the highest poverty rate, making up two-thirds of the world’s hunger population, said the conference.

Investment in agriculture and rice production remains low due to its high risk and rice diseases have developed on a larger scale.

The countries emphasised the necessity to have a new revolution in breeds and technology to increase rice yield on a global scale.

Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Robert S. Zeigler said climate change has become more severe and it has affected many nations.

Unpredictable rainfall has caused difficulties, along with storm and drought, he said.

However, the IRRI leader said he is confident that during the next 10-20 years, nations will have enough time to prepare suitable solutions to cope with climate change and have better rice management methods.

Furthermore scientific and technological development will help countries to minimise the consequences of disasters in rice production, he said./.

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Food security essential to socio-political stability

Ensuring food security will contribute actively to socio-political stability in each country and the world as a whole, said Vietnam ’s top government leader.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung emphasised the importance of rice in food security while addressing the third International Rice Conference in Hanoi on Nov.9.

“Rice is feeding over half of the world’s population. The staple is even more important to Asian countries, which are the world’s major rice producers and also consumers and are home to 60 percent of the people living in short of food,” PM Dung said.

He pointed out that ensuring food security remains a global challenge and it will face with numerous difficulties and challenges in years ahead.

To fulfill the target of halving the number of poor people worldwide by 2015, which is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals set by all nations 10 years ago, will require not only national efforts but also enthusiastic support by developed countries and international organisations and coordinated actions in the region and the world as a whole, PM Dung noted.

Highlighting the conference’s theme of “Rice for the future”, the PM said he hoped the event will provide a valuable opportunity for more than 1,000 participating scientists, managers and businesspeople to share information and experience, boost their cooperation, as well as seek solutions to further improve rice production and trade.

PM Dung told the participants that Vietnam has over the past 22 years exported a total of 75 million tonnes of rice worth 23 billion USD and has become the world’s second rice exporter.

“The Vietnamese Government has defined that food security in the long term and in all circumstances is one of the important contents in the country’s socio-economic development cause,” he said, noting that the government is working hard to fix shortcomings and weaknesses in rice production and trading.

He affirmed, “ Vietnam is willing to cooperate and share its experiences in rice production and trade with the international community and will make active contributions to ensuring food security in the globe”.

More than 300 reports and presentations will be delivered at the conference, dealing with policies relating to food security as well as cutting-edge scientific and technological advances to boost rice production.

At the event, PM Dung presented the Friendship Order to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in recognition of its valuable assistance to Vietnam ’s rice farming over the past time./.

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FAO pledges more assistance to Vietnam

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will continue to assist Vietnam in poverty reduction and sustainable agriculture production, FAO Representative in Vietnam Yuriko Shoji said.

Currently, apart from helping Vietnam to assure food security in remote areas and those affected by the impact of climate change, FAO has been helping Vietnam to establish food security law, she said.

Praising Vietnam’s efforts in reaching the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in poverty reduction and food security, especially graduating from being a recipient of food assistance to the solid position of a food exporting country, the FAO official also said she believed that with sound planning, investment and programme management, Vietnam would succeed in ensuring food security for all its people.

At a ceremony to mark 30 years of World Food Day (Oct. 16) in the midland province of Phu Tho on Oct. 11, Yuriko Shoji said this year’s topic is “United against hunger” and she called for joint efforts from individuals, agencies and countries throughout the world towards hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

FAO has reported that about one billion people, or one sixth of the world’s population, are starving.

Natural disasters and diseases, together with financial crisis, have pushed world food prices up, leading to the increasing number of starving people, according to FAO.

In the context that cultivated land is becoming more scarce, food production will have to increase by 75 percent in order to meet food demand for nine billion people in 2050, the organisation warned.

As a result, FAO General Director Jacques Diouf stressed the necessity of expanding food production to meet future demand.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu, Vietnam, a country with 70 percent of its population living in rural areas, has made efforts to ensure an adequate food supply for the population which is increasing by one million people every year.

Being a rice export country, Vietnam does not have to cope with food shortages. However, its agricultural production in recent years is facing hardship due to natural disasters, diseases, climate change and a reduced area of agricultural land, Thu said.

Increasing food prices also lead to higher vulnerability among particular groups of people, especially in the areas of high poverty and malnutrition rate, she added.

The General Statistics Office reported that in the first nine months of the year, more than 2.65 million people, living mainly in the northern midland and mountainous areas, are starving.

Vietnam seeks further FAO assistance in agriculture production, especially in a new rural development programme in the future, Thu said.

To develop sustainable agriculture, a food security plan developed by the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development and Natural Resources and Environment put forward a target of maintaining 3.8 million ha of land for agricultural production by 2030.

The ministries also help farmers develop food production cooperatives, with priority given to rice growing areas, together with increasing investment in infrastructure./.

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