Farmers join world trend to go ‘green'

Hoa Kien Commune's farmers have a bumper summer-autumn crop in Phu Yen Province. — VNA/VNS Photo The Lap

HA NOI — The restructuring of Viet Nam's agriculture sector to become more adaptable to climate change is one of the top priorities in the country's socio-economic development plan between 2011-20, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said yesterday.

Speaking at the ongoing 2nd Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, the PM re-emphasised Viet Nam's efforts in restructuring its agriculture sector. These include the application of progressive technology, integrating agricultural production with processing and discovering output markets, and environmental protection.

"We're willing to work with other countries and international agencies to implement green agricultural models so we can learn from other partners," Dung said.

The leader also said the country faced enormous challenges in maintaining food security and ensuring export levels while mitigating the effects of climate change and rising sea levels.

PM Dung hoped that Viet Nam would continue to receive further support from other countries and international organisations to ensure food production and its current level of rice export, which accounts for one fifth of the world's rice export volume.

On Wednesday, Oxfam released a report suggesting that food price increases would worsen due to extreme weather caused by climate change devastating food production.

The report examines the impact of extreme weather scenarios on food prices in 2030. A nationwide drought in India and extensive flooding across Southeast Asia could cause the world market price of rice to increase by 22 per cent. — VNS