Taking Stock, December 2016 : An Update on Vietnam's Recent Economic Developments
Over recent decades, Vietnam’s agricultural sector has made enormous progress, realizing major gains in productivity and output and contributing to national goals related to food security, poverty reduction, social stability, and trade. Nevertheles...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Hanoi
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/608961480599012554/Taking-stock-an-update-on-Vietnams-recent-economic-developments-Special-focus-transforming-Vietnamese-agriculture-gaining-more-from-less http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25748 |
| Summary: | Over recent decades, Vietnam’s
agricultural sector has made enormous progress, realizing
major gains in productivity and output and contributing to
national goals related to food security, poverty reduction,
social stability, and trade. Nevertheless, there are growing
concerns related to the quality and sustainability of
Vietnam’s agricultural growth and related patterns of
development. A comparatively low quality of growth is
manifested by low smallholder farmer profitability,
considerable under-employment among agricultural workers,
mixed or uncertain product quality and food safety, low
value addition, and limited technological or
institutionalinnovation. Some agricultural growth has come
at the expense of the environment in the forms of
deforestation, biodiversity loss, land degradation, water
pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. In most locations,
agricultural growth has involved an increase in cropping
areas or intensities and ever higher uses of inputs and
natural resources. Hence, more output has come from more and
more inputs and increasing environmental costs. Vietnamese
agriculture now sits at a turning point. The sector now
faces growing domestic competition—from cities, industry,
and services—for labor, land and water. Rising labor costs
are beginning to inhibit the sector’s ability to compete
internationally as a low cost producer of bulk
undifferentiated commodities. The country’s ruralyouth have
rising aspirations for living standards. Vietnam’s expanding
consumer class and trade partners are expecting higher
standards, both for products and production practices. Going
forward, Vietnam’s agriculture will need to generate ‘more
from less’. That is, it will need to generate more economic
value—and farmer and consumer welfare—using less natural and
human resources and without degrading the environment. It
will need to rebrand itself and increasingly compete on the
bases of innovation, reliable supply, predictable quality,
and assured food safety and environmental protection. |
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