Today, more than 600 delegates attended the dialogue between the Prime Minister and farmers.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visits a high-tech agricultural model in Binh Phuoc. Photo: VGP/Quang Hieu.

600 delegates attended the dialogue

The dialogue will be chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. According to the Organizing Committee, the event of the Prime Minister's dialogue with farmers chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is expected to have more than 600 delegates attending, including: representatives of the Party and National Assembly's Committees, leaders of ministries; central branches; leaders of the Committees and units of the Vietnam Farmers' Union; leaders of departments, branches and sectors of Hai Duong province; leaders of 63 Farmers' Associations of provinces and cities; experts, scientists; enterprises investing in agriculture and rural areas; central and local press agencies.

Notably, the conference was attended by 300 farmers from all over the country and Hai Duong province. This was the first time the head of the Government had a dialogue with the Vietnamese peasantry. The theme of the dialogue was: Removing obstacles; Unleashing motivation; Continuing the momentum of 30 years of Renovation.

The Prime Minister's dialogue with farmers with the theme "Removing obstacles, unleashing motivation, continuing the momentum of 30 years of innovation" is an event chaired by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union, in coordination with the Government Office and the People's Committee of Hai Duong province. The Nong Thon Ngay Nay/Dan Viet newspaper is the agency assigned to organize this event.

Journalist Luu Quang Dinh - Editor-in-Chief of Nong Thon Ngay Nay Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Organizing Committee of the dialogue said: "Immediately after Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc assigned the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union to organize a dialogue with farmers nationwide to grasp the thoughts, feelings, and difficulties of farmers, the Vietnam Farmers' Union assigned Nong Thon Ngay Nay Newspaper/Dan Viet Electronic Newspaper to collect opinions of farmers nationwide. After two weeks of implementation, the Organizing Committee received more than 1,000 questions from thousands of farmers nationwide."

According to the Organizing Committee, the dialogue will be chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Also attending the dialogue are members of the Government, including: Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Minister - Head of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung, and leaders of ministries and branches will attend the dialogue.

At this dialogue, farmers directly reflected to the Government and the Prime Minister on major and important issues in the life of agriculture, farmers and rural areas such as: policies, land, resource and environmental management; policies on restructuring the agricultural sector, building new rural areas; policies to promote the transformation of crop and livestock structures, and agricultural product consumption; food safety and hygiene management, agricultural material management, international economic integration policies for the agricultural sector, farmers and rural areas, etc.

2 immediate issues, 5 strategic issues

On the eve of the dialogue, Party Central Committee member, Party Secretary, Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union (VFU) Thao Xuan Sung affirmed that this is the first time the VFU Central Executive Committee has organized a dialogue between the Prime Minister and Vietnamese farmers so that farmers can directly reflect to the Government and the Prime Minister on major and important issues in agricultural, farmer and rural life. The head of the VFU said that there are 2 groups of issues that the Prime Minister will receive and give instructions immediately after the dialogue. Those are the groups of issues on specific measures to strengthen state management of fertilizer production, solve difficulties in land accumulation, protect the environment, and provide vocational training, etc.

Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Farmers’ Union Thao Xuan Sung (second from left) presents agricultural machinery to farmers in the mountainous areas of Son La province during a visit, gift-giving, and 2018 New Year greetings to members and poor farmers in this locality. Photo: Ha Van Hoang/Dan Viet.

The second group of issues is reviewing and supplementing planning and policies. I am confident that the Prime Minister will accept and assign ministries, branches, or coordinate with the Fatherland Front and mass organizations to resolve them. This group of issues must have a specific project, be submitted to the National Assembly, and have a roadmap to resolve within 1-2 years.

According to Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Farmers’ Union Thao Xuan Sung, to develop an effective and sustainable agricultural commodity, the core is to rely on farmers and for farmers. This comes not only from the people’s thoughts and aspirations but also from the country’s development policies and strategies. To do this, it is necessary to solve the following 5 groups of problems:

First: It is necessary to continue reviewing, supplementing and perfecting the planning for agricultural economic development nationwide, especially in 6 strategic regions: Northwest, Northeast, Northern Delta, Central Coast, Central Highlands, Southwest and Southeast. The purpose is to clearly identify the needs between supply and demand. From there, there is a roadmap to build an effective and sustainable commodity agricultural economy.

Second: Through a survey of localities nationwide, I really hope that the Prime Minister will take the lead in resolving investment in agricultural infrastructure. Based on reviewing and supplementing that planning, the Party and the State need to continue investing and supporting members, farmers, cooperatives and enterprises in the agricultural sector in agricultural infrastructure to focus on developing sustainable agricultural production from production to processing, preservation and circulation.

Third: The Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers’ Union considers a very important solution, which is to strengthen state management of the agricultural materials sector, especially the production and supply of fertilizers. It is time for the Government and the Prime Minister to preside over research and promulgate policies on encouraging and supporting enterprises producing organic fertilizers to increase the nutritional content per unit of fertilizer and increase the effectiveness of fertilizers for crops at reasonable prices.

Chairman Thao Xuan Sung talks with Mr. Tran Minh Hoang (right) - a farmer in Ngoc Hien district (Ca Mau) about shrimp farming using the super-intensive model. Photo: Chuc Ly/Dan Viet.

Fourth: In parallel with the coordination activities with the Social Policy Bank and the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, the Vietnam Farmers' Union at all levels needs to continue to effectively implement Conclusion No. 61/2009 of the Secretariat and Decision No. 673/2011 of the Prime Minister.

The Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union recommends that the Party, the State, and Party committees and authorities at all levels continue to pay attention to, coordinate resources, and allocate additional budgets for the Farmers' Support Fund at the same level. The Vietnam Farmers' Union at all levels considers this an effective means to gather and mobilize support for farmers to link up in commodity production and effectively implement policies on agricultural development, new rural construction, and sustainable poverty reduction.

Fifth: The Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union believes that people are the core and decisive factor. Therefore, it is necessary to further promote vocational training for rural workers. It is necessary to train and teach vocational skills to improve the quality of workers from the cooperative management staff to the economic household owners and farmers' union members as an autonomous economic unit. They must have enough qualifications and capacity to reflect the wishes of our ancestors. That is "without knowledge there is no prosperity, without workers there is no wealth, without agriculture there is no stability".

Action to increase farmers' income

"In 2017 alone, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended 17 conferences and forums on issues related to the agricultural sector," said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, commenting on the significance of the Prime Minister's dialogue with farmers today, April 9, in Hai Duong province. Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that in 2017 alone, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended 17 conferences and forums on issues related to the agricultural sector. This demonstrates the Prime Minister's deep concern for agriculture, rural areas and the position of farmers in our country.

Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong visited the coffee garden of Mr. Nguyen Dang Tinh's family, Nam Ban town, Lam Ha district, Lam Dong province. Photo: Hoang Hanh/Agriculture.

Therefore, the Prime Minister's dialogue with farmers this time will be an opportunity for the Prime Minister to directly acknowledge and listen to farmers' opinions on remaining issues, as well as recommendations that need to be resolved.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the next 5 years sets a goal to promote the agricultural restructuring program, farmers' lives must be improved. In the next 5 years, we strive to at least double farmers' income compared to present, this is a goal that not only meets the people's living requirements according to the Party and State's policies, but this is truly a potential and advantage that must be focused on exploiting.

In fact, in the past 30 years of innovation, we have succeeded in the very important initial stage, building the economy in a progressive direction, in which economic structure, agriculture only accounts for 16% of GDP. The remaining industry, construction and tourism services are increasing in proportion to meet the transformation requirements of a progressive economy, in line with the general development orientation of any economy.

According to Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong, on the one hand, restructuring agriculture towards focusing on high-tech agriculture, on the other hand, it is also necessary to propose a general policy to attract labor from the agricultural sector to other sectors, attracting agricultural labor to urban areas.

Excited and hopeful

Speaking to Nong Thon Ngay Nay/Dan Viet Newspaper, many outstanding Vietnamese farmers expressed their excitement and anticipation to attend the dialogue conference between the Prime Minister and farmers. “In recent years, I have been honored to participate in many events and activities honoring farmers with the presence of speeches from Party and State leaders. However, when I was invited to attend the conference where the Prime Minister had a dialogue with farmers, I was still very excited and looking forward to it. I have many things to present at the conference. Those are the advantages and difficulties, obstacles in my family's agricultural production and business…”, Mr. Vo Quan Huy, an outstanding Vietnamese farmer from Long An province expressed.

Mr. Vo Quan Huy next to his banana garden in Long An. Photo: Document.

As a scientist dedicated to the field of agriculture, farmers, and rural areas, Dr. Dang Kim Son shared: “I really hope that through the dialogue between the Prime Minister and farmers, many difficulties, obstacles, and challenges of agriculture, farmers, and rural areas will be heard by the head of the Government from the farmers themselves - the subjects that decide the success of agricultural restructuring and new rural construction...”.