Attending the conference were also President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Tran Thanh Man, leaders of the relevant ministries, agencies and localities, along with 300 typical farmers representing over 12 million farmers nationwide.
This is the second dialogue since the PM’s first conference with farmers held in Hai Duong Province in April 2018.
At the dialogue this morning, there were over 2,000 farmers' questions sent to the event, focusing on issues related to production, trading, processing and consumption of agricultural products, as well as capital, land and climate change issues, in addition to environmental protection, new rural areas, and social issues in rural areas.
At the dialogue, a range of difficulties raised by farmers were responded to and solved towards sustainable development. They were also concerned about transport development in the Mekong Delta and how to invest resources for sustainable development in the region.
In this regard, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The informed that at present, the Government is directing its focus on completing the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway. Recently, the Government has allocated over VND2.1 trillion, while creditors have also pledged to support VND1 trillion for the project, which is expected to be carried out throughout the upcoming Lunar New Year.
Regarding resources for sustainable development in the Mekong Delta, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung pointed out that the immediate task in the near future is to re-plan the Mekong Delta and rationally reorganise its space for fast, sustainable development and adaptation to climate change.
It is expected that in the fourth quarter of 2020, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) will submit to the Government for approval the adjusted planning for the Mekong Delta. In addition, the Mekong Delta needs regional links and the ministry will submit to the PM the coordination mechanism for linkage in the region, Minister Dung informed.
Regarding resources to invest in transport infrastructure for production, in the near future, the MPI will invest US$2 billion, of which US$1 billion is for the 2021-2025 period. The above money is used to invest in traffic and fresh water reservoirs in service of production and daily life, ensuring water security.
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Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (C) speaks during the talks with farmers. (Photo: NDO)
Regarding the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta according to the Government's Resolution No. 120/NQ-CP dated November 17, 2017, PM Phuc affirmed that the Government has directed the agriculture sector to be proactive in drastically prioritising the implementation of four key areas in the region, namely building an overall programme for sustainable agricultural development to adapt to climate change associated with new rural area construction in the Mekong Delta; irrigation development in the Mekong Delta; preventing erosion for river and coastal banks and preventing natural disasters; and researching and selecting plant and aquatic varieties to adapt to climate change for the region.
The goal set in the resolution is to make the Mekong Delta become a region with a fairly high development level compared to the whole country by 2020, with advanced production organisation standards, per capita income higher than the national average, guaranteed people's livelihoods, and modern network of infrastructure and socio-economic connection.
The viewpoint of the Party and the Government towards the Mekong Delta’s development is to develop sustainably and prosperously on the basis of promoting potentials and turning difficulties and challenges into opportunities, PM Phuc said.
Therefore, it is necessary to change the development mindset, from purely agricultural thinking to diversified agricultural economic development thinking to meet market demands, he asked, urging for further application of high technology and green agriculture associated with building high value chains, while formulating scenarios and effective solutions to cope with natural disasters, floods, droughts and saline intrusion.
In addition to the State support, the PM also reminded the farmers to renew themselves to get rich and make Vietnam’s agriculture more prosperous. Vietnamese farmers need to improve their scientific and technological and market knowledge to improve independently with an available self-reliance, he stressed.
