MARD held a conference on the Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture in Việt Nam (PSAV) with the theme “Adding Green and Value to Agriculture” in Hà Nội on Monday. — Photo nguonluc.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Promoting public-private partnerships will help improve sustainability in the agricultural sector, according to experts speaking at an event in Hà Nội on Monday.

The expansion of the public-private partnership (PPP) model was essential to developing a green, innovative and value-added sector, while attracting investment capital from the private sector, as well as domestic and foreign enterprises, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Lê Minh Hoan.

The minister was speaking at a conference on the Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture in Việt Nam (PSAV) with the theme “Adding Green and Value to Agriculture”, held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said that the new global economy required agricultural products to be produced responsibly, especially in biodiversity conservation and emissions reduction to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

In light of global challenges facing the agricultural sector, innovation in agriculture needed development, while innovative initiatives needed disseminating to improve productivity and sustainability in the food supply chain.

With the Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development to 2030 and a vision to 2050, Việt Nam advocates accelerating agricultural restructuring, transforming from a "production mindset" to an "economic mindset", towards the “green values” created from “green transformation, green consumption, green economy”.

Along with the goal of maintaining and improving productivity and output, agriculture needs to develop integrated "multi-value" to create added value based on effective exploitation of scientific and technological resources, innovation, digital transformation and organisation to connect agriculture with the processing industry, markets, exports, and global value chains.

At COP26, Việt Nam also announced a national commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050. The agricultural sector plays an important role in laying the groundwork for this goal and ensuring a sustainable roadmap for national long-term food security.

Binu Jacob, General Director of Nestlé Việt Nam Co., Ltd., said that reducing the use of pesticides while still improving productivity had made great strides, however, this was still not enough.

As food security becomes increasingly important, ensuring a sustainable food supply was an important priority, he said.

However, agriculture was also a factor that still accounted for a large proportion of emissions, said the general director.

To deal with these impacts, it was necessary for the participation of all parties, especially the public and private sectors, he added.

Nestlé Việt Nam Co., Ltd. continued to co-operate with the MARD and partners to bring sustainable Vietnamese agriculture to reality, he added.

In addition, Nguyễn Đỗ Anh Tuấn, Director of PSAV Secretariat, Director of International Co-operation Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on co-operation with Grow Asia and Syngenta Việt Nam.

This Memorandum of Understanding helps the parties strengthen co-operation in the form of a public-private partnership for Việt Nam's agriculture sector in line with the Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development. — VNS