Page 4 - Layout 1

Dear readers,

Vietnam was a traditional agricultural country until the closing decades of the 20th century, with a
substantial proportion of its population working in the sector. Since then, due to the rapid pace of
industrialization and urbanization, the contribution made by agriculture, forestry, and fisheries to the
country’s GDP gradually declined and stood at only 14.9 per cent in 2020. But Vietnam still has major
potential in agricultural development. It remains very much an agriculture-driven economy, with a
substantial proportion of the national workforce employed either directly or indirectly in the sector.
According to data collected for the first quarter of this year, of the 49.9 million workers in the country,
14.1 million, or 28.2 per cent, worked in agriculture.
Orientations for the development of the sector have therefore been identified and adapted.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in May instructed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
to transform the sector’s growth model. The supply chain of agricultural products must turn into a
value chain of commodities and high-yield agriculture into high-tech, ecological agriculture.
Furthermore, the development of a high-tech agriculture sector is an inexorable trend amid Industry
4.0. Such a trend will undoubtedly help the sector increase workplace productivity, add value to
products and services, and reduce the proportion of the workforce engaged in the sector. For this
reason, Vietnam intends to speed up the development of high-tech agriculture, which will require a
great deal of capital, technology, and expertise from foreign investors.

Vietnam’s agriculture sector is undoubtedly a destination of potential for foreign investment in terms
of producing and processing various agricultural, forestry and fisheries products, with a host of
advantages stemming from its diverse natural resources, ranging from type of land and soil fertility
levels to river and forest density and long coastlines, as well as its natural food resources.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency at the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of December
20, 2020, the number of FDI projects registered and implemented in the agriculture, forestry and fishery
sector stood at 503, with total capital of over $3.7 billion. These are modest figures compared to other
sectors. In the first half of this year, however, it was among the country’s top 10 sectors in terms of FDI
attraction, with seven projects and capital of $78.65 million, despite the pandemic.

FDI in agriculture has remained a topic of some discussion among those interested in ensuring food
security during the pandemic.

Our Cover Story in this August issue focuses on FDI in agriculture and we hope will serve as a reliable
source of information for similar discussions into the future.

DR. CHU VAN LAM
Editor-in-Chief