Vũ Tiến Lộc, Chairman of the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said start-up entrepreneurship would promote the sector’s development, especially when restructuring it had become a priority. — Photo songmoi.vn

HÀ NỘI – Developing a fertile ground for agriculture start-ups will be crucial for the sector’s much-needed transformation, experts said at an online forum yesterday.

Vũ Tiến Lộc, Chairman of the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) which co-organised the forum with Diễn đàn Doanh Nghiệp (Business Forum), said Việt Nam had special advantages in agriculture and start-up entrepreneurship would promote the sector’s development, especially when restructuring it had become a priority.

He said there was increasing interest in investing in agriculture, and believed start-ups would take the lead, provided an “ecosystem’ was developed to make it happen.

The ecosystem should enable start-ups to access markets, supply human resource of high quality and have a financial structure to provide capital for start-ups, venture capital or angel investment, Lộc said.

The Government is paying special attention to promoting start-ups, seeing them as a driver for economic restructuring, especially in the agriculture sector, said Phạm Quang Hiển, Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Enterprise Management Department.

Hiển said the proportion of firms operating in agriculture and rural development remained modest, at around one per cent of the total. Agricultural production was also happening mainly on a small and scattered scale, he added.

He said that it was important to formulate detailed policies to attract private and foreign investments in agriculture and improve the business climate following the Government’s Resolution 19/NQ-CP.

Feasible agriculture production and land use plans were needed, Hiển said.

Nguyễn Chí Ngọc, Deputy Chairman of the Việt Nam Association of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the Government played an important role in encouraging investments in agriculture – a sector with a lot of risk and slow capital recovery.

Application of modern technology would be key to the success of firms in this sector, Ngọc added.

Vũ Ngọc Huyên from the Việt Nam National University of Agriculture proposed a start-up consultancy service for the sector.

According to Phạm Hồng Quất, Director of the National Agency for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation Development, promoting co-ordination between the Government, universities, scientist and firms is of significant importance in encouraging start-ups.

The Ministry of Science and Technology is preparing a project to establish a start-up ecosystem in Việt Nam by 2025. - VNS