(TBTCO) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) have just signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide products and services to implement the project “Sustainable development of 1 million hectares of rice cultivation”. High quality, low emissions associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta until 2030″.
On December 12, 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) coordinated with the People’s Committee of Hau Giang province to launch the project “Sustainable development of 1 million hectares specializing in high-quality and low-emission rice cultivation, integrating with green growth in the Mekong Delta (MRD) until 2030”.
Agribank and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development signed a Memorandum of Understanding to implement the Cooperation Program to provide banking products and services to subjects under the project.
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| Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan spoke at the project launching ceremony. |
Agriculture, farmers, and rural areas (Tam Nong) are areas identified by the Party and State as national advantages and pillars of the economy. Among them, rice production is a key production industry, not only helping to ensure national food security but also supporting the country’s economic development.
However, recently, market requirements are increasingly higher, regulations of importing countries are increasingly strict, requiring rice quality to be improved and food safety to be ensured; including minimizing the use of production inputs of chemical origin and reducing emissions.
At the 26th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Prime Minister also committed to striving to achieve net zero emissions by 2025. With the shortcomings of Climate change, challenges of market fluctuations and difficulties in changing world consumption trends, Vietnam’s rice industry is facing the need to “transform”.
From the above context, the project “Sustainable development of one million hectares specializing in high-quality rice cultivation with low emissions, associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta until 2030” has been approved and issued by the Government. The project’s goal is to form 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice growing areas, associated with reorganizing the production system according to the value chain; Apply sustainable farming processes to adapt to climate change and reduce greenhouse emissions; improve income efficiency and life of rice growers; ensure national food security and social stability; Improve the quality and reputation of Vietnamese rice products in the world market and move towards a transparent, responsible and sustainable rice industry.
To concretize Vietnam’s international commitments in developing the rice industry associated with reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it is necessary to have the participation and coordination of ministries and branches, including the banking industry. Agribank was introduced by MARD to participate in financing capital and providing products and services to project participants.
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| Agribank – 35 years accompanying “Tam Nong” |
According to the Memorandum of Understanding Agribank and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development signed, Agribank will advise, support and provide banking products and services such as: deposit services, loan services, financial services. main,… in accordance with the project’s objectives for the participants.
MARD, on its part, will provide information about project participants and act as a connection point with local agencies and authorities to coordinate with Agribank at the project implementation site to effectively implement development goals. rice industry. Agribank and MARD are committed to closely and responsibly coordinating and comprehensively disseminating the contents of the cooperation program to relevant affiliated units.
Determining the Mekong Delta as one of the key economic development areas, especially in the field of agriculture and rural areas, Agribank always seriously, drastically and synchronously deploys credit policies to serve “Tam Nong” and specific credit programs. The Mekong Delta is currently the region with the highest credit growth of Agribank with loan sales by November 30, 2023 reaching more than 250 trillion VND. To date, outstanding loans to the rice sector in the Mekong Delta region have reached more than 30 trillion VND with more than 33 thousand customers, making it the largest lending area for the rice industry in the country with a proportion of 48%.
Agribank will continue to closely follow the direction of the Government and the State Bank, drastically implementing solutions to promote safe and effective credit growth; continue to accompany and support customers in the Mekong Delta region in particular and the country in general to have sustainable financial sources for economic development./.
