Agriculture is an significant economic activity in Vietnam, with rice being the key driver of the agriculture sector. In fact, Vietnam's GDP by agricultural contribution is the highest in the South East Asia region, compared to countries that have significant agricultural activities such as Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia; about 68% as opposed to 51%, 57% and 14% respectively . When Vietnam was affected by the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998 and 1999, where the GDP dropped drastically to 5.77% and 4.77% respectively, the Agriculture sector was not greatly affected, although the contribution to the GDP growth showed gradual decrease over the years. This could be due to the shift to a manufacturing-based economy. Nevertheless, based on a report by MARD, agriculture ...view middle of the document...
Vietnam's export of rice is experiencing growth for the last 17 years in the 1989-2005 period . In 2005, Vietnam's export of rice reached an all time high, with an export volume of 5170 thousand metric tones, in adjacent with higher world market prices for rice driving the total export value to USD 1.28 billion. The rise of export and the price of rice are mainly because of higher yields as well as usage of chemical fertilizers despite bad weather conditions.Adverse weather affected the agriculture sector greatly, especially rice planting through a draught in 1977, as well as major typhoons and flash floods in 1978 . Besides, poor technology and infrastructure caused the reduction of Vietnam's competitiveness in the export market for rice. Inappropriate handling of harvested rice also resulted in Vietnam's failure in capturing the fragrant rice market to countries such as Thailand. According to MARD, Vietnam still has no master plan to develop specific rice farming areas after 17 years in rice planting .The Vietnamese government introduced several programs to support farmers, including setting a price floor on paddy. Farmers are also given advice and expertise from agricultural institutions on how to harvest paddy the appropriate way in order to preserve rice quality. In addition, certified and genetically engineered seeds are distributed to farmers to improve rice quality .Besides that, MARD is encouraging organic agricultural production in 2007. The project will commence with training on marketing for farmers and businessmen. The government also spent USD2-2.5 million on rice research each year so as to improve and maintain rice varieties for higher yield as well as resistance.References:www.vneconomy.com.vn