Voters' opinions on Minister Cao Duc Phat's response

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development's response to questions received the attention of many voters.

Following the question and answer session of Minister Cao Duc Phat on VTV, Mr. Le Ba Lich, Chairman of the Vietnam Animal Feed Association, said: Minister Cao Duc Phat has pointed out many issues related to the agricultural sector. However, the solutions of the Ministry in the past have not really solved thoroughly, many issues directly related to the lives of farmers such as the situation of falling prices of agricultural products; poor quality fertilizers and pesticides still occur, causing damage to farmers;...

Minister Cao Duc Phat answered questions at the 5th session of the 13th National Assembly.
Photo of Labor Newspaper.

Mr. Le Ba Lich said: “All agricultural products have fallen in price. The price of fresh rice is 3,045 VND/kg, while the price of dried rice is only 4,500 VND/kg; live pigs have dropped to 32,000 VND/kg in the South, and to 38-40,000 VND/kg in the North, which means they are all below cost. Meanwhile, we still have to import corn from abroad and it has gone up to 8,000 VND/kg. So farmers are suffering very miserably. So now, what does the Minister think about restructuring production in Vietnam? That is the strategic issue.”

Regarding the response of Minister Cao Duc Phat in the field of livestock, Mr. Nguyen Dang Vang - Chairman of the Vietnam Livestock Association said: Currently, the scale of livestock farming in our country is still small, so households do not pay attention to vaccination for livestock, making the risk of disease very high. Besides, he also agreed with the assessment that the current livestock management force in farms and localities is still too thin.

Mr. Nguyen Dang Vang suggested: “If we form a Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine or a Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, including aquaculture, then we will have a system from the central to local levels. Management according to such a system will be more beneficial. Veterinary medicine actually accounts for less than 10% of the product cost, and for animal feed, care and feeding processes, we must have people to help farmers.”

Mr. Nguyen Tho, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Plant Protection Science and Technology, said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development needs to have solutions to strictly manage the use of pesticides, so that Vietnam's agricultural products are truly safe for domestic consumers and meet export standards.

“The management of drugs and the use of plant protection drugs must be re-adjusted. For a long time, the Plant Protection Department has mainly managed the business and registration of new drugs, while the management of use and instructions for use has been almost completely left blank. I think that is a mistake and needs to be corrected. Most of the time, drug companies and drug agents instruct farmers on how to use drugs, while agricultural extension agencies and plant protection agencies rarely directly instruct farmers on how to use drugs,” Mr. Tho commented./.

According to (vov.vn) - LT