Public-private farms draw foreign interest
Public-private farms draw foreign interest
Millions of tonnes of farm produce have been already been produced in Viet Nam under public-private partnerships (PPP); however, this is considered just the beginning.
Five years ago, Metro Cash & Carry Viet Nam and Cargill Corporation of the United States joined hands to carry out a PPP project in fisheries in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development..
The model focuses on identification of potential fish breeds and directs farmers to the designated model serving the domestic market.
During the first period of the project, they worked with authorities in the Mekong Delta provinces of Hau Giang, An Giang and Ca Mau to organise training programmes in aquaculture.
The programmes were attended by 300 farmers and 80 representatives from fish breeders and their associations.
Under the project, a centre for receiving, processing and packaging fishery products, was set up in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho in 2011. In six months, the centre bought about 15 tonnes of fish products every day for consumption at the Metro supermarket network.
The project has so far trained more than 2,000 farmers and 400 traders. More than 4,000 tonnes of fish products have been produced and sold each year.
Similarly, after three years of implementation, a PPP project to grow high-quality tea by Unilever Viet Nam has attracted the participation of about 25,000 households in six localities. They include the four northern mountainous provinces and the central province of Nghe An and the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.
Last year, more than 12,000 tonnes of tea were produced and exported in compliance with international standards certified by Rainforest Alliance (RA), the mandatory standard for exporting tea under the Unilever system. They brought in double-value profits in comparison with traditional tea cultivation.
The project aims to raise the total amount of tea certified by the Rainforest Alliance to 30,000-50,000 tonnes, bringing in profits for about 40,000 farmers.
Meanwhile, Global Beverage giant Pepsico co-operated with Switzerland-based Syngenta, the world's leading multinational producer of agricultural chemicals and biotechnology, to develop a project on improving productivity and quality of vegetables and fruit.
They invested in building an experimental farm in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong and provided farmers with financial aid and techniques to grow 12 kinds of high quality and high yielding potatoes on a trial basis.
Other products such as coffee, sugar-cane and rice have also attracted multinational corporations.
Many corporations such as Bayer, Nestle Yara, EDE Consulting and Cisco have invested in developing nearly 150 models of high-yield coffee in Lam Dong province. Total capital invested is US$350,000.
A project to grow high-quality rice by the Korea Rural Community and Agriculture Corporation (KRC) has started on more than 20,000 hectares in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap.
Meanwhile, many local businesses invested in other countries in agricultural development.
Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, Vinamilk and Nova Group, for example, are investing billions of dong in growing sugar-cane, rubber, breeding cattle and milk processing in Laos, Cambodia, New Zealand and Poland.
Deputy Director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development, Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, said this was a new trend, but it was not irrational. A number of Vietnamese businesses invested abroad but targeted agricultural fields where Viet Nam did not have production advantages, but had consumption advantages.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has set up a task force on attracting investment in agriculture and rural development. They will work to connect leading businesses with localities to attract private investment and restructure agriculture towards developing the PPP model.
Tuan said many businesses operating in the field of securities, real estate and mineral exploitation were starting to invest in agriculture. Corporations such as Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Hoa Phat, Duc Long Gia Lai, Sai Gon Securities and FPT had a huge demand for land to develop their farm products, he said.
Tuan said it was high time for localities to be more open in policies to attract investment to keep domestic businesses with strong financial capacity investing in PPP projects.
