Vietnam - Food security a priority, says PM

HA NOI – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung today urged a food and agricultural conference to come up with more aggressive solutions to food security and poverty reduction, especially in rural areas.

Dung said in his address at the opening ceremony of the 31st Food and Agriculture (FAO) Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Ha Noi that he appreciated its goal to contribute to global poverty reduction.

He said Viet Nam's policy was to use its domestic resources effectively and strengthen international integration and co-operation to make a more favourable environment to attract more external resources for development.

Dung said Viet Nam acknowledged the challenges and was actively strengthening research and the application of technology into production; reducing production and post-harvest losses; renovating land policies; re-organising production to link with the processing industry and product marketing; enhancing environmental protection; responding to climate change, especially sea-level rise.

The country was implementing national target programmes on rural re-development and sustainable poverty reduction; promoting state investment and introducing stronger incentives to attract domestic and foreign businesses to invest in agriculture, rural areas, green agricultural models, organic and high valued products, while using energy, water, fertiliser and chemicals economically; adapting to the increasing impacts of global climate change, Dung said.

United Nations FAO director-general Jose Graziano da Silva, told the conference the region was home to 62 per cent of the world's 925 million undernourished people, with some countries coming close to the limits for agricultural expansion and high food prices and volatility.

Da Silva suggested maintaining the five current regional priorities. They were strengthening food and nutritional security; fostering agricultural production and rural development; enhancing equitable, productive and sustainable natural resource management and utilisation; improving capacity to respond to food and agricultural threats; coping with the impact of climate change on agriculture and food and nutritional security.

VNS ( To be updated)

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