Green Agriculture Development in Vietnam: Current Situation and Solutions

In the world, green growth in general and green agriculture in particular have gradually become the mainstream trend. In that context, many mechanisms and policies to facilitate the development of green agriculture have been issued, such as: Resolution No. 19-NQ/TW, dated June 16, 2022, the 5th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee on agriculture, farmers and rural areas to 2030, with a vision to 2045, affirming the role of agriculture as a national advantage, a pillar of the economy, in which agricultural development is associated with green, organic, circular agriculture, linked to market demand. Decision No. 150/QD-TTg dated January 28, 2022 of the Prime Minister approving the Strategy for sustainable agricultural and rural development for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050. The general goal of the Strategy is to build a commodity agricultural production while developing agriculture based on local advantages, in a modern direction with high productivity, quality, efficiency, sustainability and competitiveness among the leading groups in the region and the world, firmly ensuring national food security. Immediately after that, in September 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development approved the Action Plan to implement the National Strategy on Green Growth for the period 2021-2030 with the goal of developing agriculture in the direction of ecology, circulation, low carbon emissions to improve growth quality, added value, competitiveness and sustainable development… Accordingly, developing agriculture in the direction of ecology, organic, circulation, low carbon emissions to improve growth quality, added value, competitiveness and sustainable development; reduce pollution in agriculture and rural areas, towards a carbon-neutral economy by 2050.

Or the Strategy for sustainable agricultural and rural development to 2030 (issued under Decision No. 150/QD-TTg, dated January 28, 2022 of the Prime Minister) requires: Developing green, environmentally friendly agriculture, adapting to climate change, reducing rural environmental pollution, striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10% compared to 2020.

On June 23, 2020, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 885/QD-TTg approving the Project on organic agriculture development for the period 2020-2030. The project sets the goal: Developing organic agriculture with high added value, sustainability, and friendliness to the ecological environment, associated with a circular agricultural economy serving domestic consumption and export. Certified organic agricultural products comply with regional and world organic agricultural standards; making Vietnam a country with organic agricultural production levels on par with advanced countries in the world.

With the above policies, in Vietnam, the green agricultural model is increasingly attracting the attention of farmers. In many localities, many models have been and are in the process of transforming to develop green, ecological agriculture according to world market trends as well as helping to minimize the impact of climate change.

Many localities, enterprises, and cooperatives have raised awareness among farmers in reducing the amount of seeds sown, implementing integrated pest management (IPM), using pesticides according to the “4 rights”, reducing the amount of inorganic fertilizers, along with many technical advances, such as: “3 reductions 3 increases,” “1 must 5 reductions,” shallow irrigation – exposure – drying techniques… These synchronous technical solutions and processes have brought many benefits in practice, helping to increase productivity and product quality, reduce production costs and reduce environmental pollution. Studies have shown that the longer rice fields are flooded, the more methane gas is produced. Rice fields using the shallow-surface-dry irrigation technique help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 3.5 times compared to rice fields that are flooded throughout the crop.

Or the rice-shrimp, rice-fish models… are one of the typical models of adaptation to climate change in the Mekong Delta region, not only increasing the value of production, but also helping to solve the problem of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building a green and sustainable agriculture. These are new directions suitable for the current market because in the world market, many countries have encouraged and prioritized the import of ecological products and organic products.

In livestock farming, waste treatment and utilization of agricultural by-products in the form of a circular economy are being applied on different scales. Along with biogas projects, the livestock industry is promoting the guidance of farmers to collect livestock waste to raise earthworms, black soldier flies, etc. to create a source of protein for livestock feed in the context of high animal feed prices, while converting waste into organic fertilizer, reducing harm to the environment. Typically, in the cattle farming of T&T 159 Hoa Binh Joint Stock Company, to create a source of food, the Company has purchased all agricultural by-products, such as corn stalks, straw, peanuts, etc. to produce animal feed. Collecting all waste products of the wood production industry such as chips, shavings, sawdust, etc. to produce bio-mats. The food of microorganisms in bio-mats is cow waste. This conversion will help the barns to be odorless and always clean. In particular, the organic fertilizer factory will recycle these bio-mats, which is also a source of income with certain significance in the business’s income (Bich Hong, 2022). The above method is being spread by T&T 159 Hoa Binh Joint Stock Company and the Vietnam Agricultural Enterprise Council, together with farmers, farms and large enterprises, to build a circular agricultural ecosystem.

One of the farming methods of green agriculture is organic agricultural production, which has been strongly developed for many years. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, if in 2016, the organic farming area reached about 77,000 hectares, then by 2022, the whole country will have about 240,000 hectares of organic farming. In particular, 59/63 provinces and cities nationwide have implemented organic agriculture and this trend is spreading more and more strongly (Nguyen Dinh Dap, Pham Thi Tram (2022).

Thanks to the implementation of many green and clean agricultural production models, clean agricultural and aquatic products with traceable origins have accounted for an increasingly large proportion. A survey published in 2020 by the International Organization for Agriculture showed that Vietnamese organic agricultural products are consumed domestically and exported to 180 countries around the world, including: the US, the European Union (EU), China, Japan, Germany, the UK, Korea, Russia, Singapore, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, etc. (Thuan Nguyen, 2022).

It can be seen that green agriculture in Vietnam has made great strides. However, in reality, there are still some “bottlenecks” that need to be removed, namely:

– There is no planning for organic production, no separate mechanisms and policies to support organic production, but it is integrated into other programs and projects such as: high-tech agricultural development program, support for linking production and consumption of agricultural products through contracts, etc.

– Small-scale production is a “barrier” to the application of closed, concentrated production with large cultivation areas.

– Consumers do not really trust and do not have experience in distinguishing between organic products and other conventional products.

– The level and capacity to access science and technology are still limited, leading to slow development of green agriculture.

– Farmers still have old habits and thinking in production that have not been eliminated, such as: excessive use of inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, abuse of drugs in livestock – veterinary – aquaculture, epidemics, environmental pollution, food hygiene and safety… are becoming increasingly serious problems, seriously affecting human health, the ecological environment and the reputation of Vietnamese products in the international market.

To integrate into the agricultural economy, Vietnam needs to take new steps and have a vision to transform to a green, low-emission and sustainable food system. According to the author, it is necessary to focus on implementing the following solutions:

Firstly, to have investment capital for green growth, the agricultural sector needs to focus on mobilizing social resources, especially from enterprises, to implement green growth goals. Strengthen international cooperation to call for financial support and technology transfer to make Vietnamese agriculture a model for green, low-carbon, food-safe agricultural development, and enhance competitiveness in the global agricultural product chain.

In addition, building a green economy, developing green agriculture, forming a harmonious lifestyle between humans and nature…, first of all, managers and people need to renew their thinking, awareness, proactively promote green economy, green growth, green consumption… Besides, the agricultural sector and localities need to create new breakthroughs with a system of synchronous solutions, developing ecological agriculture in a multi-value, multi-sector direction, integrating economic, social, environmental values… Along with that, making the most of the natural advantages of regions for agricultural development, ensuring interaction with the ecological environment.

Second, there needs to be a suitable investment credit policy for households so that they can invest in expanding production scale. Among the resources for developing a green economy, capital is an important resource. The formation and development of “green” production models requires a larger initial investment capital than conventional production models, so capital support is needed for development. In addition, lending and debt collection methods and procedures need to be suitable to the characteristics of each type of production model. Procedures must be simple and convenient, and the lending and debt collection mechanism must be based on the seasonality of crops and livestock to help farmers feel secure in production.

Third, in terms of science and technology, it is necessary to focus on improving knowledge and techniques of cultivation and livestock farming for people through the agricultural extension network, helping people to be proactive in production based on their own knowledge; promote the application of new scientific advances in production.

Fourth, to solve the market problem for farmers in the consumption of agricultural products, localities need to create specialized, large-scale production areas that are standardized with strict cultivation processes; At the same time, digital transformation is needed to connect information between production and consumption, thereby tracing the origin of products. This is the leading factor in positioning a green agriculture.

Fifth, agricultural production is highly risky due to the impacts of weather and climate factors, so to minimize risks, there needs to be an insurance policy for agriculture. This is a new field for both farmers and insurance organizations, so the State needs to have a policy to support organizations implementing agricultural insurance./.