Delegates at a seminar in HCM City yesterday called for developing close links with stakeholders in the agricultural production chain to improve the sector's competitiveness globally. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Delegates at a seminar in HCM City yesterday called for developing close links between stakeholders in the agricultural production chain to improve the sector's competitiveness globally.

Despite calls to develop links between farmers and businesses for many years, they remain tenuous, he said.

In rice production, for instance, the links between farmers and businesses in the large-scale rice field model remain modest five years after it was first adopted, he said.

Thus, the area under the model is only 500,000ha out of the country's total of 7.2 million hectares of cultivable land, he pointed out.

Many farmers sign contracts with businesses, who provide them with inputs, but after the harvest they flout the contracts and sell to other businesses who offer them higher prices, Bui Thi Quy, general director of Van Phat Wine Company in Phu Yen, which has a sugar factory, said.

It is very hard for companies to develop close linkages with farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta since the latter only sell their sugarcane to traders, not directly to factories, she said.

Dr Vo Tong Xuan, an agricultural expert, said the Government has policies to encourage linkages in agricultural production but they have shortcomings, including a lack of regulations to deal with farmers or businesses violating contracts.

The Government should review them and resolve the shortcomings, he said.

Banh said agricultural production and co-operatives must be restructured with better links between farmers and businesses to improve efficiency.

He called on businesses to invest more in processing technologies to add value to farm produce.

Xuan said farmers need to apply good agricultural practices to sustain quality.

Companies should be more active in expanding their markets, and develop close linkages with farmers to create a stable supply source for themselves, he said.

Tran Van Lam of the Viet Nam Farmers' Union said with deeper international integration Vietnamese farm produce is expected to encounter fierce competition in both the domestic and export markets.

The agricultural sector must seek ways to improve product quality and reduce production costs to bolster its competitiveness, he added. — VNS