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Nguyen Van Binh, head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, was speaking at a national teleconference reviewing the ten-year implementation of Resolution 26-NQ/TW on agriculture, farmers and rural areas adopted at the seventh plenum of the 10th Party Central Committee, which is also the first of its kind issued by the Party. 

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung and a large number of representatives from ministries, agencies, sectors, foreign embassies and international organizations also attended the event.

Binh stressed that President Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) had always paid due attention to the development of agriculture, farmers and rural areas, considering this important foundations and forces for national socio-economic development and maintenance of political stability, security and national defence. 

Over the past decade, Vietnam has made great achievements in this field, which are recognised and applauded by the international community, he said, highlighting the improved role and position of farmers. 

However, there still remain limitations regarding the organisation, quality, efficiency and sustainability of agricultural production, rural economy and new-styled rural area building, according to the official. 

Due to the bottlenecks, some targets set by the resolution may not be fulfilled by 2020 if no breakthrough solutions and timely, drastic instructions are taken, he said. 

Given this, Binh urged delegates to propose models and solutions to spur the development of agriculture, farmers and rural areas in the time ahead, enhance the Party’s leadership, improve the efficiency of State management, promote the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and other socio-political organisations and encourage the public’s participation in this regard. 

At the conference, deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission Cao Duc Phat presented a report on the ten-year implementation of the resolution. 

Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and representatives of ministries and agencies cut the ribbon to open a national exhibition on agriculture, farmers and rural areas. 

With more than 100 booths, the exhibition introduces achievements Vietnam has gained over the past ten years in this sphere, along with quality farm produce, technologies and services in agriculture and agricultural startups.

As of late 2017, 34.4 percent of communes met the criteria on new-style rural areas, which is expected to reach over 40 percent in late 2018 and 50 percent in 2019. 

According to the draft summing report that attests to the correctness of Resolution 26, the agricultural sector accounts for nearly 70 percent of the national population and 40 percent of the nation’s workforce. 

Several goals for 2020 set in the resolution are likely to be fulfilled, including raising the income of rural residents by more than 2.5 times compared to present (per capita income in rural areas in 2017 was 32 million VND, up 3.49 times from 2008). 

The agricultural sector will employ around 30 percent of the workforce by 2020 (the rate was 38.6 percent in June this year), while half of the communes nationwide will achieve all criteria for new style rural areas.