Policies to promote the development of organic agriculture

	One commodity list regulated in 42 documents
	Ministry recognizes 28 high-tech agricultural firms
	More than 93,500 agricultural dossiers are implemented through NSW

A deputy stated at the conference

On August 22, 2017, as sponsored by Vietnam Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project (VNSAT), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) held a conference titled “ Sharing information on management policies to promote the development of organic agriculture in Vietnam”

The conference is to recognize comments of experts, enterprises, and manufacturers to finalize and develop decree on organic farming to comply with state management function of ministries and sectors and the reality and create favorable conditions for the development of organic agriculture in Vietnam.

According to the MARD, from the 1990s, a number of foreign organizations have come to Vietnam to research, invest in organic farming projects, and have helped Vietnamese farmers access to organic cultivating methods and farming models.

Over the past time, Vietnam’s area of organic farming has also increased. Many enterprises have attempted to invest in organic agriculture and actively apply international standards to meet the domestic demand for key products such as tea, vegetables, and fruits. Besides, some products have been exported to the US market and the EU market.

However, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said that the organic farming scale in Vietnam is still small. Even, many disguised organic products are not in accordance with the organic farming standards on the market. Therefore, the promulgation of a legal normative document to control the organic agriculture is necessary in order to facilitate organic agriculture to develop in the right direction and build trust for manufacturers, enterprises, and consumers

Mr. Dang Tan Huynh, Chairman of the management board of Dong Thuan Organic Pepper Co-operative (Dak Nong) said that there should be policies to support organic farmers to produce organic products at price equal to or lower than the price of chemical products. "High-priced organic farming is to create conditions for dirty farming," said by Mr. Huynh. Accordingly, the price equal to or lower than the price of chemical products not only helps to increase the competitiveness of organic products but also motivates the development of organic farming.

Many deputies also mentioned difficulties in accessing the preferential credit packages that are for hi-tech agriculture only. While organic farming is mostly natural, so it is difficult to be approved. Accordingly, the deputies said that a national fund for organic agriculture development should be established. This fund can be developed in the form of socialization to call for enterprises to increase capital.

Deputies also said that organic farming required strict standards on soil and water resources, it was necessary to regulate organic farming areas at a national level such as temperate, tropical and medicinal plants. Provinces should identify their advantages and conditions for registering organic production areas.

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The deputies were interested in the content of organic agriculture standards. Most deputies thought that Vietnam needs to develop standards that are conformable with international standards to avoid the situation that organic products meet the Vietnam’s organic standards but are not accepted by foreign markets.