Development of agricultural value chain towards sustainable agriculture, food safety measures and animal and plant quarantine (SPS) in agricultural trade… is attracting great interest of the society, especially amid the complex situation caused by Covid-19. These issues were discussed in the National Conference "Development of agricultural value chains towards sustainable agriculture in the context of Southeast Asia integration" hosted by the VNU University of Economics and Business.
The conference was held online with the co-organization of the Steering Committee for International Economic Integration, Ministry of Industry and Trade; SPS Vietnam; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; National Institute of Agricultural Planning and Projection, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Vietnam Institute of Agricultural Sciences.
This is a national forum on agricultural value chain development, attracting the participation of nearly 200 experts and researchers at organizations, universities together with news agencies.
Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Anh Thu - Vice Rector of VNU University of Economics and Business
In the opening presentation of "Common issues in developing agricultural value chains towards sustainable agriculture in the context of integration in Southeast Asia: Policy and practice", Assoc.Prof. Nguyen An Thinh, Dean of the Faculty of Development Economics said: “Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries have a long-standing agriculture, which takes up a large proportion of GDP (except for Singapore and Brunei). Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines are the countries with the agricultural share in GDP reaching over 10% by 2020, of which the highest is Cambodia and Myanmar with 22.8% (according to databank.worldbank.org).
Presenters of the conference
The agriculture of Southeast Asian countries is affected by crises in both the long and short term, including economic recession, climate change, epidemics, the Covid-19 pandemic, etc. The research used the agricultural statistics set published in 2021 by Statica (https://www.statista.com/) and FAO qualitative and quantitative analysis of the current status of agricultural development in Southeast Asia countries, providing a scientific basis for policy making for sustainable agricultural development, responding to crises in this region.
Assoc.Prof. Nguyen An Thinh, Dean of the Faculty of Development Economics
The experts pointed out that Southeast Asia is an important region, densely populated and most countries depend largely on agriculture. Therefore, this sector plays a pivotal role and receiving preferential policies. Southeast Asia is a region that contributes significantly to the value of agricultural production in Asia and the world. According to statistics of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the total value of agricultural production in Southeast Asia in 2018 reached $254.18 billion, accounting for 12.9% of the region's total value of the Asia (1970.29 billion USD), and accounted for 7.16% of the value of world agricultural production (3550.23 billion USD).
Within the research, UEB’s researcher combined the theoretical framework of socio-ecological transformation (SET) and the framework of pressure - reality - response analysis (PSR) to study the dual effects of climate change and COVID-19 on agriculture and food security. The SET framework has its advantages in designing theoretical models to give recommendations on changing models of agricultural production toward sustainable development and adaptation to the impacts of climate change and Covid-19.
With the combined approach of the SET framework and the PSR framework, the research results provide accurate and up-to-date information for researchers as well as managers and decision makers in the field.
>>> Proceeding of the conference can be downloaded
here.
>>> Video recording of the conference can be downloaded
here.