In realization of the Party�s renewal line, Vietnam�s agricultural production (agriculture, forestry and aquaculture) has over the past years continuously made great achievements. The greatest achievement is that, for not a long period, Vietnam�s agriculture has developed from a backward and autarky agriculture into a commodity agriculture, ensuring the national food security, achieving an ever-higher commodity ratio, and a noteworthy status in the region and in the world. Vietnam has become one of the top world exporters of four commodities: rice, coffee, cashew and pepper.

Yet, in the process of industrialization, modernization and integration into the regional and world economy, Vietnam�s agriculture has to continue addressing basic and urgent issues so as to meet our farmers� aspirations and serve the country�s interests.

II. REGARDING THE ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF AGRICULTURE

To bring into play such great advantages of our agriculture as natural resources, the age-old farming tradition, farmers� industriousness, dynamism and creativeness, for the objective of building a strong and sustainably developed agriculture which, thanks to the application of new and high technologies, shall be step by step modernized and advance into an agriculture with large-scale commodity production branches increasingly competitive in the process of international integration, with a high productivity and income per unit of land acreage, satisfying the population�s food and foodstuff demands, supplying sufficient raw materials for the industries, rapidly increasing the export turnover, protecting the ecological environment thus contributing to improving the farmers� life and ensuring the country�s economic and social stability.

The selection of the structure, scale and types of products of various agricultural production branches must aim to tap the advantages of each region and the country as a whole, closely follow the domestic and world market demands, and ensure the goods consumption possibility and as well as high economic, social and ecological efficiency.

For the next 10 years, the important goods production branches of our agriculture should develop along the following orientations:

1. Food production:

a/ Rice: constitutes a highly advantageous production branch of our country, particularly in the Mekong River and Red River deltas. It is a must to ensure food security, sufficient rice for national reserve and necessary quantity for export. The rice output shall be kept stable at around 33 million tons/year, of which 25 million tons shall be for consumption and reserve (not to mention the increasingly consumed quantity of wheat flour, most of which is imported) and the remainder for export and other needs. Rice production shall be mainly based on intensive farming with the use of high-quality strains, so as to effectively meet the demands of the domestic and foreign consumption markets. To constantly keep about 4 million hectares of land with good irrigation conditions for rice production. To shift various categories of land with less effective rice production to the production of other products with higher efficiency, for example dry land shall be shifted to the production of subsidiary food crops, low-lying land and coastal land to aquaculture, suburban land to growing of vegetables, flowers, fruit trees... In deep-lying and remote areas, to continue investment in developing rice production in areas with conditions (particularly in small-scale irrigation and building of rice fields) so as to improve the inhabitants� life, soon stop the destruction of forests for rice milpa building as well as nomadism.

a/ Subsidiary food crops: Chiefly maize, shall continue to develop for the objective of 5-6 million tons/year so as to ensure enough raw materials for making animal feeds.

2. Short-term industrial plants:

a/ Sugarcane: Not to build new sugar plants, mainly to re-arrange and exploit to the utmost the capacity of the existing ones. To build stable raw material sugar cane areas, to push up intensive farming. To develop other processing industries so as to raise the efficiency of sugar plants, to develop the foodstuff industry (confectioneries, milk, sugared fruit juices) in order to completely consume the produced quantity of sugar. In future, when the domestic market demand increases, to consider and decide a higher level of development of the sugar industry.

b/ Oil plants: Vietnam has conditions to produce vegetable oils to meet our own need, especially edible oil. To strongly develop oil plants like groundnut, soybean, sesame, sunflower, etc, so as to provide edible oil for the population at a level of 4-5 kg/person/year, without having to import such oils. During the development process, if emerges a large market with good prices, to make use of conditions for strong development and export of edible oils.

c/ Fiber plants: Cotton, mulberry shall occupy a long-standing position in the agricultural structure. To develop cotton in areas with conditions, striving for self-supply of an important part of cotton to meet the demands of the textile industry, restricting the amount of imported cotton. To continue the development of mulberry in close combination with the silk weaving trade, creating more jobs for people and increasing export goods.

d/ Raw material tobacco: In some areas with conditions, to develop the production of tobacco for use as raw material for the domestic production of cigarettes, quickly reducing the quantity of imported raw material tobacco.

3. A number of traditional perennial trees of high economic value:

a/ Coffee: constitutes a large commodity production branch of our agriculture. To maintain the existing level of 400,000 hectares under coffee, with annual substitutive growing, focusing on highly intensive and comprehensive cultivation without expanding new areas. To concentrate efforts on developing coffee and tea in areas with actually good conditions. In future, Vietnam�s coffee output shall be kept at about 600,000 tons per year.

b/ Cashew: To strongly develop cashew trees on the basis of improving the existing cashew gardens and expanding new areas, chiefly in Central Vietnam, to increase the land area under cashew to about 500,000 hectares and to achieve the output of about 100,000 tons of cashew nuts/year.

c/ Pepper: is a kind of perennial plant of high economic value. To increase the land area under pepper to about 50,000 hectares, with an output of 100,000 tons/year. To closely follow the world market demands so as to determine an appropriate production level, and ensure the sustainable efficiency of this production branch.

d/ Rubber: To concentrate efforts on the intensive cultivation on the existing 400,000 hectares with a high productivity. To continue to develop rubber in suitable areas, ensuring effective production and business, mainly in Central Vietnam and the Central Highlands, particularly in the border areas. In future, to achieve the dry rubber latex output of about 600,000 tons/year. To develop the industry of deep processing of products from rubber latex and the rubber wood industry so as to raise the effectiveness of rubber trees.

e/ Tea: is a key perennial tree of mountainous provinces in North Vietnam. To increase the land area under tea to 100,000 hectares with the intensive farming technology, especially for high-grade kinds of tea grown on highlands. To produce various kinds of tea which can satisfy the domestic tastes and diversified needs of the international market. The annual processing output shall be about 100,000 tons of assorted tea.

4. Vegetables, fruits, flowers and bonsai:

a/ Vegetables: To develop different kinds of vegetables, mainly those of good quality. Apart from traditional kinds of vegetables, to develop new high-grade vegetables such as various kinds of vegetable beans, corn, bamboo shoots, edible mushrooms and mushrooms for pharmaceutical use, etc, which are of highly nutritious value and have a large potential of consumption market, creating more jobs, contributing to the poverty alleviation and hunger elimination in many rural areas in the country.

b/ Fruit trees: To develop tropical, subtropical and temperate fruit trees; to effectively tap all advantages of different ecological areas in our country, meeting the needs of the people�s life and substantial export in future. Apart from common fruit trees to meet the popular needs of the people�s life, it is necessary to develop a number of fruit trees with the competitive edge for export, such as litchi, longan, pineapple, thanh long (cereustriangularis), etc.

c/ Flowers and bonsai: are in increasingly great demand, particularly in cities. To develop areas for production of flowers and bonsai to meet the market demand.

5. Forestry:

To continue to well direct the implementation of the program on planting five new million hectares of forest. Apart from protection, zoning off for nursing, re-generation and planting of special-use and protection forests, to strongly develop production forests, focussing on a number of following major orientations:

a/ Trees for use as raw materials for paper and artificial plywood production:

To develop various kind of bamboo and ivory bamboo, acacia, various kinds of pine, eucalyptus... for use as raw materials for developing the paper industry into the largest production industry for forest products processing in our country, with an annual production output of about 1 million tons of assorted paper, then proceeding to export paper pulp and paper.

To step by step develop the production of artificial planks, including plywood, chip planks, fiber planks to sufficiently meet the domestic demand.

b/ Different kinds of specialty trees, timber trees and trees for use as raw materials for processing handicraft and fine art products.

To develop various kinds of cinnamon and anise... in areas with conditions, meeting the international market demand.

To develop a number of rare and precious timber trees such as sandalwood dipteriacarpaceae, ironwood, chukrasia, fokienia hodginsii, teak..., to develop timber trees for use as mine pit-props and in construction.

To develop the production of outdoor wood furniture, domestic woodarticles, wood fine art articles, rattan or bamboo products... chiefly for export.

6. Husbandry:

a/ Pigs: To concentrate efforts on developing the pigs� herd suitable to the domestic consumption demand. In some areas with conditions, to boost the raising of high-quality pigs along the direction of industrial production, ensuring safety from epidemics, mainly for export.

b/ Cows: To develop beef cows, mainly Zebu cows of high productivity and good beef, to meet the demand for beef and skin. To pay special attention to strongly developing the dairy cows� herd in mid-land and mountainous areas. For the next ten years, to develop the dairy cows� herd to about 200,000 heads, of which 100,000 are dairy cows, producing about 300,000 tons of fresh milk/year as raw material for the dairy industry, reducing the quantity of imported raw material milk.

c/ Poultry and eggs: To develop poultry, chiefly chicken, ducks, to meet the people�s demand for meat and eggs. To strongly develop the rearing of high-quality chicken and ducks for export of meat, eggs and feathers...

7. Aquatic resources:

Constitute a branch of producing animal protein which is in increasingly great demand in the domestic market and has a large export potential, likely to become the most advantageous production branch of Vietnam�s agriculture. To achieve an output of 3-3.5 million tons of aquatic products/year to meet the domestic market demand and raise the export turnover to a leading level in Asia.

Together with the development of off-shore fishing, to concentrate investment on developing the aquaculture branch in a sustainable manner along the following major orientations:

a/ Shrimps: is a key product in our country�s aquaculture business. To develop the rearing of blackish water shrimps (banana prawn, tiger prawn) and fresh water shrimps (blue-legged prawn), to combine industrial intensive rearing with semi-intensive rearing and ecological rearing, to increase the areas for intensive and semi-intensive rearing of different kinds of prawn to over 100,000 hectares, to increase the production output of different kinds of prawn reared with technological methods to over 300,000 tons/year.

b/ Fishes and other aquatic products: to strongly develop the rearing of various kinds of freshwater, blackish and sea fish as well as other specialty fishes.

If developed along the above-mentioned orientations, Vietnam�s agriculture shall ensure national food security, enough raw materials for industries and at the same time increase the export value to about 8-9 billion USD/year.

II. SOME UNDERTAKINGS AND POLICIES TO PROMOTE THE CONSUMPTION OF AGRICULTURAL (AGRICULTURAL, FORESTRIAL AND AQUATIC) PRODUCTS

1. Widespread application of new scientific-technological advances to agricultural production:

Sciences and technologies must serve the objective of developing a sustainable agriculture, focussing on meeting the need of raising productivity and goods quality while cutting down products� prices and at the same time creating many new, rare and precious and out-of-season goods items so as to raise the competitiveness of Vietnam�s farm commodities.

For the next decade, it is a must to raise the scientific and technological level of many branches of Vietnam�s agriculture on a par with that of the regional countries and increase the contribution of scientific and technological advances to the added value of agriculture from the present 30% to over 50%. To continue to push up and improve the quality of, the agriculture, forestry and fishing promotion work right at the grassroots level and farmers� households with a view to helping farmers to understand and apply scientific and technical advances so as to raise productivity, goods quality and reduce prices of agricultural produce. To concentrate efforts on the application of new scientific and technological achievements to the following domains:

a/ Regarding strains and varieties: To ensure that 70% of strains and varieties used in production are technically advanced. Most of good strains and varieties shall be produced in the country. To push up the research into cross-breeding and use of superior cross-bred strains and varieties. To make investment to meet the material base construction requirements for the research work to create new strains and varieties as well as to produce original ones. To allocate sufficient funding for import of gene sources and technically-advanced strains in service of the research work and the cross-breeding to create new strains and for quick multiplication of good strains and varieties in service of large-scale production.

To step by step expand the application of genetic techniques to the work of creating plant varieties and animal breeds of high economic efficiency while ensuring biological diversity and environmental protection.

b/ Regarding care and protection of plants and animals:

To promote the research into and application of biological technologies to the plant and animal care and protection, with special attention being paid to developing various kinds of biological fertilizers and pesticides as well as various types of technology in service of the production of clean agricultural produce.

To promote the research into and application of effective integrated measures to the prevention and control of insects, diseases and epidemics harmful to plants and animals, stop a number of epidemics dangerous to husbandry and aquaculture.

c/ Regarding irrigation, drainage and mechanization:

Sciences and technologies must find out technological solutions to achieve the next ten years� objectives of basically completing investment in developing irrigation works to meet the water supply and drainage requirements for plants of high economic value and high demand, and for aquaculture.

It is a must to push up the research into and widespread application of water-saving irrigating technologies such as: spraying, dripping or penetrating irrigation... for essential plants in appropriate ecological areas.

To study and select technologies as well as design and build suitable kinds of machinery in service of mechanization of the soil preparation for over 70%, the sowing of short-term seeds, the cultivation and harvest in a number of necessary production branches. To research so as to raise the level of manufacture of a number of equipment so that the home-made products can be competitive with foreign-made ones of the same kind being circulated on the Vietnamese market and strive for export of these products.

d/ Regarding preservation and processing:

To research and apply modern technologies to the preservation, preliminary processing and processing of farm produce so as to minimize post-harvest loss, raise the goods value, ensure international quality standards and diversity of products in service of domestic consumption and export. For the immediate future, to speed up the process of renovating technologies at existing production establishments and using new advanced technologies at newly-built production establishments, thus meeting the demands and tastes of each export market.

2. To create more resources, develop different forms of contract with farmers, to effectively combine agriculture, processing industries and consumption of farm produce.

To organize good implementation of land policies according to the Land Law. To finish the granting of agricultural land use right certificates to farmers. To take full stock of unused land. For the next ten years it is a must to put all arable land to effective use.

On the basis of the development of household economy in agriculture, it is a must to continue developing various forms of farm economy, first of all in mid-land, mountainous and coastal areas in order to effectively exploit the land and water surface fund for agricultural development. To encourage all economic sectors to develop the farm produce-processing industry, chiefly small and medium-sized enterprises, including the development of craft villages. To step by step equitize State enterprises engaged in processing farm produce, attract large numbers of farmers who produce raw materials to buy shares, thereby linking their interests with the enterprises� interests. Localities shall work out plans on the use of their land fund for industrial development. In necessary communes with conditions, to allocate the land fund for developing craft villages, ensuring the production and environmental protection requirements.

To strongly renew activities of agricultural cooperatives. To persistently mobilize farmers to build cooperatives of a new type. To create every favorable condition for cooperatives to carry out well their task of consuming farm produce through signing contracts for consumption of marketable products with farmers� households.

To encourage processing and trading enterprises of all economic sectors to sign more consumption contracts with cooperatives or directly with farmers, striving to link production with processing, domestic consumption of products and export.

In this direction, for the years to come, to quickly increase the number of farmers� households and farms producing commercial agricultural products which shall be produced under contracts.

To apply comprehensive measures to develop human resources in rural areas. To develop various forms of vocational training schools for rural population. To urgently deploy the training so as to improve the production and business capability of cooperative and enterprise managers as well as farm owners.

To strengthen existing business line associations and establish new ones to protect the legitimate interests of farm produce producers and traders.

3. A number of financial policies.

a/ Regarding the tax policies:

Apart from the tax policies currently in force, the following new policies shall be applied:

The tax on high incomes of farmers� households doing farm economy shall apply after concrete bases are studied and worked out such as the Government�s Resolution No. 03/2000/NQ-CP of February 2, 2000 on farm economy.

To exempt tax on trading in commercial agricultural produce. Planted forest trees like those for use as raw materials for production of paper and timber, and specialty trees like cinnamon, anise, cardamom,... shall be exempt from natural resource tax and freely circulated.

It is necessary to consider value-added tax on farm produce so as to make necessary adjustments.

For agricultural land use levy, apart from the exemption and reduction regime according to polices already implemented, as from 2001 exemption and reduction shall be also considered for cases of facing market and price risks.

b/ Regarding investment, credit and insurance:

Together with the policies on mobilization of people�s investment in agricultural development, the State shall increase the budget capital investment in developing infrastructures in service of agriculture. To increase investment in irrigation, construction of roads, bridges and culverts, quays and warehouses so as to meet the requirements of production, goods circulation, raising productivity and reducing products� prices. The State shall support investment in developing agricultural produce wholesale markets and rural markets so as to create favorable conditions for exchange and consumption of farm produce.

The Ministry of Finance shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Aquatic Resources and the concerned ministries and branches in studying and formulating policies on investment support from the Development Assistance Fund with confessional terms and interest rates for agricultural production projects which are hard to quickly recover capital such as projects on growing of perennial trees, raising of big cattle, aquaculture and development of processing industries, then submit them to the Prime Minister for decision.

To set up the Credit Guaranty Fund to create conditions for farmers� households, farm owners, small- and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives that meet with collateral difficulties to borrow enough capital for developing their production and business activities. The Ministry of Finance shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the State Bank of Vietnam in working out a scheme on setting up the Fund, together with policies and solutions, then submit them to the Prime Minister for decision in the third quarter of 2000.

The market of commercial farm produce often meets with risks, thus affecting the interests of farmers and enterprises. Apart from current financial support policies, the State shall encourage the setting up of the Fund for Export Insurance for different goods categories. For such goods categories with a high export value as: rice, coffee, rubber, tea, cashew, pepper, vegetables and fruits, aquatic resources, timber, this kind of fund may be set up. The fund for any goods category shall be only used for insurance of such goods category. Producers and businesspeople of each goods category may set up their association to manage this Fund�s revenues and expenditures according to the financial regime which shall be submitted by Ministry of Finance to the Prime Minister for decision. The State shall provide financial support for the insurance funds of some special goods categories.

4. Promoting the work of seeking for overseas markets, improving the information and marketing capability.

To push up the trade cooperation relations with foreign countries, to connect external relations with export of farm produce. To continue to widen bilateral and multilateral governmental-level commitments to export of farm produce. To add more types of farm produce to the list of goods for payment of foreign debts. To strengthen powers and responsibilities and create conditions for overseas Vietnamese diplomatic and trade missions to take part in seeking for export markets for agricultural products.

To continue to perfect the trade mechanisms and polices so as to create favorable conditions for the domestic and overseas consumption of agricultural products. To diversify the markets, foreign trade forms and payment methods suited to the conditions and interests of the involved parties, alleviate price-related risks for both producers and traders.

To effectively organize the collection and processing of the domestic and foreign market information so as to supply to production and trading establishments; to step by step develop e-commerce of agricultural commodities.

To expand and raise the effectiveness of trade promotion activities, directing these activities to meet the demands of economic restructuring and consumption of agricultural commodities. To encourage and facilitate organizations, individuals and enterprises to push up trade promotion activities inside and outside the country, such as trade fairs and exhibitions abroad, building material and technical bases in service of trade promotion activities; strengthen the training and fostering work to raise the professional capabilities and skills of employees engaged in trading and exporting agricultural products.

5. State management over consumption of commercial farm produce.

To raise the effect of State management over consumption of agricultural commodities in order to ensure that production be closely linked to processing and consumption of products. It is necessary to review the assignment of specific State management responsibilities regarding farm produce consumption and export between the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Aquatic Resources and the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities so as to bring into play the State�s management role and to enhance the responsibilities of each ministry and each locality in this field. The Government Commission for Organization and Personnel shall, together with the ministries and branches, consider and submit to the Government for adjustment the functions and tasks of these ministries within 2000.

The ministries, ministerial-level agencies and agencies attached to the Government shall, according to their respective functions and tasks, guide in detail the contents prescribed in the Resolution.

The People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to widely popularize this Resolution among the entire population and deploy its implementation.

On behalf of the Government
Prime Minister
PHAN VAN KHAI